Freak Snowstorm Hits Queens

An unexpected snowstorm struck the metropolitan area Tuesday (Jan. 25) and forced thousands of Queens residents to battle the elements as they struggled to work and school on unplowed roads and highways.
"It reminded me of the infamous 1969 storm that paralyzed Queens and caused big political problems for Mayor John Lindsay," said Monte Magid of Forest Hills. "I left Yellowstone Boulevard for Bayside at 8:30 a.m. and there wasnt a snow plow in sight."
Magid said he continued in heavy snow along Woodhaven Boulevard to Union Turnpike East, but didnt see a plow until he reached 164 Street at 9:10 a.m. He arrived at his Bayside office at 9:45 a.m.
City Sanitation Department officials told another story. They said that by 11 p.m. Monday night they were aware a storm was on the way.
"Between 4 and 5 a.m. our salt spreaders hit the streets in Queens and elsewhere," the spokesperson said. "More than 2,100 sanitation workers, 500 of them assigned to Queens, were out in 125 salt spreaders and 341 plows."
The Department reported that four inches of snow had fallen by mid-morning in eastern Queens and two and one-half inches in western Queens.
Dan Andrews, spokesperson for Borough President Claire Shulman, said Sanitation had responded to the snow emergency by 5 a.m. Tuesday. He said that half the primary roads and 25 percent of the secondary roads were cleared by 11 a.m.
"We call the heads of Sanitation and Environmental Protection to borough hall every November to prepare for the snow," he said.
Meanwhile, Con Edison reported that 2,000 Queens customers lost power on Tuesday when the ice blew fuses on two transformers in the Laurel Hill Loop area.