A “historic” storm has left the entire state of New York suffering, with 73,000 homes without power Saturday afternoon, Gov. Kathy Hochul said.
“There is not one place in the state of New York where the temperature is above zero as far as the real feel temperature. That’s what it feels like your skin,” Hochul said during a morning news briefing in Edgemere. “Every part of New York is suffering the effects of this Arctic chill.”
Hochul spoke after touring the hard-hit Rockaways, which was swamped by storm surge Friday.
“The water literally froze and created something that was reminiscent of a skating pond,” Hochul said.
She was joined by local elected officials, although not Mayor Eric Adams, whose aides said he was expected to return to work Saturday after taking two days off.
Office of Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol said he was “grateful nobody killed or seriously hurt during this weather event.”
The NYPD, meanwhile, reported that a man found dead on the Upper East Side early Saturday may have died because of the cold.
Iscol said the homeless would be brought into shelters under the city’s “Cold Blue” protocol.
Read Related Also: Guard faints while standing watch beside Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin
There were three deaths in hard-hit Erie County, where Hochul said she called in the National Guard Friday
“The conditions — blinding snow, the zero visibility, the absolute whiteouts. It may go down as one of the worst in history,” she said.
Up to five feet of snow is expected to drop on that part of the state before the storm moves out.
Hochul called the conditions in Buffalo Saturday “life-threatening what is going on as we speak in Buffalo.”
The governor said more than 20 motorists who were stranded in their cars on the New York State Thruway had been rescued Saturday.
“We literally had snow plows going up to people and rescuing people, taking them out,” she said.
She added that “almost every fire truck in the city of Buffalo is stranded. It is stuck in snow.” She said the Buffalo airport would be closed until at least Monday morning and she urged people to stay home.
“Mother nature threw the kitchen sink at us this time,” she said
