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Kathy Kmonicek / AP
With tears in her eyes, Pirscilla Arena, 41, from Mount Sinai, N.Y., reads letters she wrote to her two children as she spent the night in her car on North Ocean Avenue in Farmingville after the car got stuck in the snow while she was traveling home after work during the snow storm. Arena was at the Brookhaven Town Hall on Saturday after being rescued by a New York state trooper.
FARMINGVILLE, N.Y. -- Stranded for hours on a snow-covered road, Priscilla Arena prayed, took out a sheet of loose-leaf paper and wrote what she thought might be her last words to her husband and children.
She told her 9 1/2-year-old daughter, Sophia, she was "picture-perfect beautiful." And she advised her 5 ½-year-old son, John: "Remember all the things that mommy taught you. Never say you hate someone you love. Take pride in the things you do, especially your family. ... Don't get angry at the small things; it's a waste of precious time and energy. Realize that all people are different, but most people are good. "
"My love will never die — remember, always," she added.
Full coverage from The Weather Channel
Arena, who was rescued in an Army canvas truck after about 12 hours, was one of hundreds of drivers who spent a fearful, chilly night stuck on highways in a blizzard that plastered New York's Long Island with more than 30 inches of snow, its ferocity taking many by surprise despite warnings to stay off the roads.
Even plows were mired in the snow or blocked by stuck cars, so emergency workers had to resort to snowmobiles to try to reach motorists. Four-wheel-drive vehicles, tractor-trailers and a couple of ambulances could be seen stranded along the roadway and ramps of the Long Island Expressway. Stuck drivers peeked out from time to time, running their cars intermittently to warm up as they waited for help.
With many still stranded hours after the snow stopped, Gov. Andrew Cuomo urged other communities to send plows to help dig out in eastern Long Island, which took the state's hardest hit by far in the massive Northeast storm.
In Connecticut, where the storm dumped more than 3 feet of snow in some places, the National Guard rescued about 90 stranded motorists, taking a few to hospitals with hypothermia.
The scenes came almost exactly two years after a blizzard marooned at least 1,500 cars and buses on Chicago's iconic Lake Shore Drive, leaving hundreds of people shivering in their vehicles for as long as 12 hours and questioning why the city didn't close the crucial thoroughfare earlier.
Cuomo and other officials were similarly asked why they didn't act to shut down major highways in Long Island in advance of the storm, especially given the sprawling area's reputation for gridlock. The expressway is often called "the world's longest parking lot."
"The snow just swallowed them up. It came down so hard and so fast," explained Suffolk County Executive Steven Bellone.
"That's not an easy call," added Cuomo, who noted that people wanted to get home and that officials had warned them to take precautions because the worst of the snow could start by the evening rush hour. Flashing highway signs underscored the message ahead of time: "Heavy Snow Expected. Avoid PM Travel!"
"People need to act responsibly in these situations," Cuomo said.
But many workers didn't have the option of taking off early Friday, Arena noted. The 41-year-old sales account manager headed home from an optical supply business in Ronkonkoma around 4 p.m. She soon found her SUV stuck along a road in nearby Farmingville.
"Even though we would dig ourselves out and push forward, the snow kept piling, and therefore we all got stuck, all of us," she recalled later at Brookhaven Town Hall, where several dozen stranded motorists were taken after being rescued. Many others opted to stay with their cars.
Related story: Boy killed by carbon monoxide as dad shovels out car
Richard Ebbrecht left his Brooklyn chiropractic office around 3 p.m. for his home in Middle Island, about 60 miles away, calculating that he could make the drive home before the worst of the blizzard set in. He was wrong.
As the snow came rushing down faster than he'd foreseen, he got stuck six or seven times on the expressway and on other roads. Drivers began helping each other shovel and push, he said, but to no avail. He finally gave up and spent the night in his car on a local thoroughfare, only about two miles from his home.
"I could run my car and keep the heat on and listen to the radio a little bit," he said.
He walked home around at 8 a.m., leaving his car.
Late-shifters including Wayne Jingo had little choice but to risk it if they wanted to get home. By early afternoon, he'd been stuck in his pickup truck alongside the Long Island Expressway for nearly 12 hours.
He'd left his job around midnight as a postal worker at Kennedy Airport and headed home to Medford, about 50 miles east. He was at an exit in Ronkonkoma — almost home — around 1:45 a.m. when another driver came barreling at him westbound, the wrong way, he said. Jingo swerved to avoid the oncoming car, missed the exit and ended up stuck on the highway's grass shoulder.
He rocked the truck back and forth to try to free it, but it only sank down deeper into the snow and shredded one of his tires. He called 911. A police officer came by at 9:30 a.m. and said he would send a tow truck.
At 1 p.m. Saturday, Jingo was still waiting.
"I would have been fine if I didn't have to swerve," he said.
In Middle Island, a Wal-Mart remained unofficially open long past midnight to accommodate more than two dozen motorists who were stranded on nearby roads.
"We're here to mind the store, but we can't let people freeze out there," manager Jerry Greek told Newsday.
Officials weren't aware of any deaths among the stranded drivers, Cuomo said. Suffolk County police said no serious injuries had been reported among stuck motorists, but officers were still systematically checking stranded vehicles late Saturday afternoon.
While the expressway eventually opened Saturday, about 30 miles of the highway was to be closed again Sunday for snow removal.
Susan Cassara left her job at a Middle Island day care center around 6:30 p.m., after driving some of the children home because their parents couldn't get there to pick them up.
She got stuck on one road until about 2:30 a.m. Then a plow helped her get out — but she got stuck again, she said. Finally, an Army National Guardsman got to her on a snowmobile after 4 a.m.
"It was so cool. Strapped on, held on and came all the way here" to the makeshift shelter at the Brookhaven Town Hall, she said. "Something for my bucket list."
Related stories:
- Clobbered by record-setting blizzard, Northeast begins to dig out
- 'Absolutely beautiful' scene in Conn. town hit by most snow
- Sandy survivors: It's like a repeat 'nightmare'
- The Weather Channel live blog
- State-by-state impact of the storm
- Current conditions
Leave a Comment:
Business owners, greedy. Check. Sad that people were forced to stay at work, if they wanted to leave early they were probably threatened with the terms, "You leave, consider yourself out of a job." Glad people made it home, but this shouldn't have been an issue, at all.
NyNy,
Good post. I'm sure that's exactly what happened. I understand the need for businesses to be disrupted as little as possible, but when the snow comes down in blankets, it's time to go home. Work will still be there tomorrow...
NyNy - Nice trolling comments. You have no idea that the business owners "forced their people to stay. I agree with your "greedy" comment; though the greed was on the employees part. "I don't want to lose an hours worth of pay. "
Kind of like the people that want to ride out the hurricanes and they "suffer" because responders are able to assist them when they realize the folly of their decisions. They are lucky only mild hypothermia is their only concern.
@NyNy
Yeah, blame it on the business owners. Bla, bla, bla, typical lib..... blaming everyone but the guilty party.
I had to be at work, I didn't have a choice. I also had a full tank of gas, winter gear, sleeping bag, water, snacks and HOT meal provisions in my car, just in case I was stuck in it.
I drove home in it Friday night and I drove back into it early Saturday morning.
If people were cold and hungry when they were stuck... IT WAS THEIR FAULT.
The boss, Bloomberg, the government or other people aren't responsible for your safety or protection. YOU ARE!!
"That's not an easy call," added Cuomo, ...it's so much easier to jump out with onerous feel-good laws than to offend the majority's stupidity.
Gotta love the mother's sob story. She writes a letter to her kids inflating her daughter's ego by addressing her looks and then corrrects the son's attitude on life.
What effect will that have on the son when he realizes that her dying words to him were reprimands?
I've seen it work both ways to be honest. I have worked jobs that have "coverage" requirements, where even when the company announced to the rest of the office that they were closing at noon, our department wasn't allowed to leave until much later, and then it was in staggered shifts. So those that normally left at 5 left at 3 those who left at 6 went at 4 and so on. Since I was scheduled to work until 7 I was "allowed" to leave at 5.
Of course, those saying that you are responsible for your own safety are also correct because I did have options. I could have called out that morning knowing that it would have become a big deal to leave later, I could have opted to stay in my office all night, I would have been warm and safe at least, even if uncomfortable. I also could have opted to spend the night at the hotel a block away, even if they didn't have a room available, there is a bar and restaurant and I could have sat in the lobby. I could have pulled off the highway into the rest stop where again, there would have been heat and food. I chose to go home and white knuckled it the whole way cursing myself for being a fool. Luckily for me I made it home okay. But had the storm I was driving in been worse, I could have just as easily been one of these drivers.
So to me, I see it as shared blame. Partly the blame of the employers who guilt and push their employees into coming in or staying when they shouldn't - just like when you're sick but feel too guilty to take a sick day; but mostly the blame lies with the motorist who upon realizing that the storm is worse than they feared doesn't take action to secure their own safety and seek immediate shelter instead of pushing on to get home.
I think that some blame does lie with governors too, they should declare state of emergency earlier than they do. When you know a hurricane or 3 foot snowstorm is hours away from hitting, I think that they should close roads AHEAD of the storm. Emergency vehicles only should be allowed on the roads when it's a state of emergency. Non essential businesses should also close during a state of emergency. Human life is more important than your shareholder's stock prices.
FearghusMahoney banned, new user making personal attacks.
If state/local officials need to shut down roads, then employers should be made to send their people home early, without penalty. What are a few more hours on the job really gonna do?
My question exactly, disturbed61! Maybe those employers should be made to financially compensate for the rescue service provided by tax dollars. Maybe that is all they would understand.
Roads have to remain open for the emergency workers. You would use more manpower keeping the roads closed than were available for other operations. The traffic was banned. So exactly what they said would happen did.
Her employer didn't care about the health and welfare of their employees. She was foolish for trying the trip with her kids instead of staying put somewhere.
Of course that is her version. She more likely felt that she "needed to be there". I find it hard to believe that the employers required them to remain after they were warned of the strength of the storm for days and emphasised as it approached. The region had just been through Sandy and that storm was still fresh in everybody's minds.
There is a thing called risk acceptance and she chose to accept the risk of being able to get home safely rather than mitigate the risk by leaving work an hour early. Had the outcome been worse, severe frostbite, death, etc. how much would that hour's worth of pay been to her?
But of course she is trying to be a typical American - avoid personal responsibility.
Well to be fair, most of the areas that were hit the hardest by this storm didn't really bear the brunt of Sandy. The northeast is a pretty big region you know.
the thinker- you obviously have no idea what your talking about. Upper management dosn't care how you get there or how dangerous it is as long as you get to work. I live in NYC and many businesses stayed open well after all of the public transporation system was shut down during Irene and Sandy. If you want to get home...call a cab; that's what employers said to thousands.
Okay, I feel bad for these folks...but, when the Governor's have issued a declaration of emergency and bans all driving past 4 p.m.....what exactly didn't they or their employers not understand???
Their employers understood all right and were certain to be home well before 4. Their employees? Tough tschitzky.
I bet some motorists are glad there are "greedy" business owners, such as those tow truck drivers and the Walmart. There might have been some people who appreciated hotels, gas stations, hospitals, day care centers and fast food "greedy" business owners being there for them. The entire state cannot just shut down every time a storm is forcast.
Susan Cassara, you're amazing.
When a storm of this magnitude is forecast it can and should.
Really? Where does it say that all these people worked in the service industry? Does "every time a storm is forcast" mean a blizzard predicted to be the worst in 35 years? Susan Cassara wasn't even supposed to be working late. Daycare can't just shut down when parents desperately need it. Otherwise they would have closed too. Hospitals don't have small business owners, and I think most people can live without a bic mac when they are barricading against a storm. Why don't you think before you post ignorant, knee-jerk talking points.
I agree! This happens in every storm. I have no sympathy. If they didn't let me leave work, I would stay there and spend the night. It's better than dieing out on the road. What are these people thinking. They shouldn't need to go to the store and should have had everything they would need for an emergency weeks ago. They endanger the lives of the poor people that have to try and rescue them.
I work in the healthcare field and could not leave, however, cots were provide for those of us who could not leave.
Nothing needs to shut down. People simply need to stay where they are. Seriously, wouldn't it be more comfortable to spend a snowy cold night in the seat of a hotel lobby, your place of employment, or restaurant with others than alone in a dark cold car? Plows, police and fire are the only ones who were supposed to be out.
Closing doesn't mean day car is going to send your kids out the door to walk home. It means your kids are there safe until you can safely get to them. Closing doesn't mean Wally World is going to kick you out into the parking lot. It means you STAY there until it's safe to leave.
Closing doesn't mean turning off the lights and trying to get home. It means we all stay put if we didn't get out in time to drive prior to the storm breaking.
I know it SEEMS like we should try for home when danger comes but sometimes we are our own worst enemy during a blizzard. If you're out and it hits just STAY WHERE YOU ARE.
This article doesn't mention whether the woman featured had a husband, so maybe her kids were home alone. She probably just wanted to be home with her kids during the storm, so she thought she could make it home and didn't. Next time, maybe more people, if they have to work and conditions are dangerous, and their employers won't let them off or put them up in lodging, should just stay at work, at least until the storm blows over, or go seek nearby shelter.
The day care worker was either stupid or brave for taking those kids home. Had something happened, to her or the kids transported, things could have turned out much worse! If I still had little ones, I would expect my day care center to NOT take risks with my kids. If I can't come to get them, then keep them there where it's safe and I know they're safe.
Nowhere in the article does it state that the employers required the employees had to remain. Arena alluded to "not having the option of taking off early Friday". There are people who are on such an ego trip that they think the company will collapse if they are not there to close the store every evening.
Choosing to stay is not the same as "not having an option".
This cracks me up because if you honestly think a Crapola World that is closing is going to let you hang out comfortably in their store all night, think again.
Hope-295312 said
Closing doesn't mean Wally World is going to kick you out into the parking lot. It means you STAY there until it's safe to leave.
Yes they do if they are going to be there anyway. They don't allow those people to wander around but they don't kick them out. While you're knocking them they do more to help out during these times than the mom and pop who close right up.
I have lived my entire life across the northern tier of the U.S. Virtually everywhere I have lived can and does have blizzards. I've been in some whoppers. If I have any wisdom it is this : got off and stay off the roads. Leave work and go home before the storm hits. Better to give your boss aggro than die in a blizzard. Ditto for schools; fetch your kids home. If everyone is home, stay there.
Keep a supply of easy, basic foods : soups, crackers, peanut butter, frozen juice, canned tuna, some microwaveable meals, several gallons of bottled water, whatever keeps and your family likes. Make sure there are extra TP, paper towels, tissues. A section of a closet for emergency supplies is useful. Keep prescriptions filled. If you have companion animals they need food, too. Just like TP, be sure to keep some kitty litter for emergencies. Puppy pads are a good idea if there is any chance dogs won't be able to go out on their regular schedule.
Yeah, I know this sounds like same-old, same-old but I'm a firm believer in preparedness. At my house, that means cider and or wine, a good book or two, nice candles. We can't stop storms from hitting but we can stay safer and make them more pleasant to ride out.
I am with you, completely! Good advice.
Actually, I was astonished at the hoarded goods that I found in my house. I decided to go on a cooking/baking spree.
Don't assume you will have utilities the whole time. Power outages often accompany blizzards. Keep prepared foods on hand too, that you don't need to microwave, refrigerate, cook or keep frozen. Also a good idea to keep ice packs in the freezer. You can transfer them to the fridge for a prolonged outage.
Just a few more tips from an Alaskan. We have this several times a year.
As it was only about 20 degrees, put the food in a container outside. Believe it or not, man survived long before the invention of the microwave. Keep some dry snacks on hand. Not like your going to snowbound for weeks.
JLM, I most certainly do think about that - although around here, it's more common that we have power outages in the summer!
Our new house has three fireplaces. ;-) Plus, I have been so hot in the summer that I boiled pasta on the grill. I've done breakfast on the grill when it was 90+ degrees out. And we have MREs and ice packs, being that we are avid campers.
What I do not have is some decent salmon! I've been to Alaska, too - my cousins used to live there. Great state.
"its ferocity taking many by surprise despite warnings to stay off the roads"...... I'm sorry but this weather has been talked about for DAYS before it occurred both in terms of its intensity and how it would be fast moving.
It is not like snow storms do not occur in the New England area. They do. Unless you were born under a rock this should have been no surprise.
If you know you are going to be driving in a snow storm then at the very least create a snow emergency car kit. See the following website.... http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/?n=safety-winter-safetykit
Keep your gas tank near full to avoid ice in the tank and fuel lines.
Personal observation on my part is if it looks like you are not going to beat the weather then pull over and check into a hotel or look up your local Red Cross shelter. Or even don`t leave wherever you work.
blah blah blah blah blah. Mr. know it all. Perhaps you can get your captain superman come to the rescue? News flash, Skippy: This Country has had snow in the past, and we know what to do!
Apparently not everyone, Francle, or there wouldn't have been so many people that had to be rescued.
Or one of those flashlights/radio that you crank
Which does nothing when there are 50 others cars in front blocking the road. Whatever you load, a Toyota Corolla isn't going to move in 25 inches of snow.
As far as New England weather, this happened on Long Island. Last time I looked , that's not New England.
Kelcy - Despite the amount of warnings given and the lead time on those warnings, there are going to be people who know more than the weather services, their 4-wheel drives are unstoppable, they know how to drive in snow, etc. and then cry a sob sorry when they have to be rescued.
Morons. You know there is a storm coming, yet you insist on driving. This is why Vulcans show disdain for the human race.
Do you always live in a pretend world or just part of the time?
I'd bet on always.
Oh yeah, no one listens. Everyone thinks their four-wheel drive is like a tank. Coastline areas that are 'advised' to evacuate seldom do. They are going to wait out the storm, until the ocean is pouring into their living rooms, then they are calling for a boat to come rescue them. I live in New England, my trunk is packed to the brim with every kind of emergency I can imagine but I stayed home when this storm was coming. I don't understand what is so hard to understand.
Of the few (myself included) who are stuck in this state, the majority leaving to avoid tax,tax,tax, the remainder are not mart enough to avoid these situations. As usual, it is someone else's fault (not!). They get themselves in less than positive situations then cry mommy. What a state. What a governor. Just like the rest including his father. It does not end unless you leave. Go to a tax free state (like New Hampshire) where the government (state and federal don't steal your money and you can afford quite honestly a far better quality of life When I moved there, I made three times what I made doing the same job in Upstate New York. People are friendly, and no state sales tax! I love it.
What a lot of whingeing about a storm, and its consequences.
Fools die easily, and are not desired inthe gene pool.
When the workers realise that they can overcome their oppressors, then there may be a revolutionary change in America. Until then, it is a steady slide into slavery.
"Its ferocity taking many by surprise despite warnings to stay off the roads." So a warning to stay off the road took many surprise. The story noted a woman who is a Sales Account at an optical store who stayed until 4pm. I might be missing the point but a Sales Accountant at an optical is not a critical job that she had to stay past noon. The Chiropractor who stayed until 3pm who had a 60 mile drive home was another case of an inflated ego. Was his job critical that day to stay past noon or open at all? The only legitimate story was the postal worker who stayed until midnight, while the mail isn't critical in a blizzard, I'm not sure if that particular federal job gives you a choice to leave early.
They should try thinking of medical staff that must go to work for evening, night, and day shift work in a blizzard or a Nor'Easter to calculate if an optical shop or chiropractic shop must stay open. I remember working the night shift at Mass General and having a special truck pick me up to get to work in a cardiac intensive care unit. I wonder how much money was made that day and how many client or customers came in to make it worth being stuck in the snow. Of they got stuck in the snow the were idiots.
Unit Price, it wasn't the staying past noon that got them; it was the LEAVING that got them. If they had simply stayed put no one would have had to come out to rescue them. ; )
The storm didn't get bad until after 3pm. Getting out early would have meant getting home.
No doubt the "I have an SUV" had something to do with it.
I don't understand why people think they know better than the weather service or Mother Nature. Stay off the road when you are told to stay off the road. How long would you have to stay, a day or maybe two? I think it's just plain stupidity to risk your life when you know what's coming. I think people just like to put themselves in dramatic situations. It was only 100 days since the last major storm struck Long Island. Get a clue and listen to the weatherman.
... move south people!
No don't move south. You wouldn't like it here. Trust me
No, no, no! Do NOT move South! We have our own homegrown idiots already!
No room at the plantation for more carpetbaggers without the good sense to come in out of the weather!
Sometimes the intelligence level of people totally amazes me,low level I should say.It's not like this storm came as a big surprise.Everyone knew it was coming,even if not as bad as predicted,it was going to be bad.It happens every bad storm,morons endangering themselves and others,because they're too damn stupid to take precautions and to be prepared.Unless you have just moved to that part of the country,from a no-snow zone,then you should know what's going to happen.It's the same every time people,snow is slippery,it piles up,you can get stuck.I'd bet money and give odds,that the same people,have the same troubles,every bad storm,because they aren't smart enough to learn from the last one.Call in sick,fake you're sick at work,go home,stay home and keep off the roads.It's not rocket science.
having something 1/10 on the scale of a northeastern storm sends the chicken littles scurrying in all directions in N Texas, funny.
Always have a shovel, blankets, water and snacks in the car.
What I don't understand is the criticism for Chicago "not closing Lake Shore Drive", or for the states to "not close the freeway's". Can't people think for themselves anymore. Why do they assume just because a declaration of closure hasn't been made, that they can drive anyway? I don't get it!
Stay off the roads and stay put means just that. Closing individual roads are impossible, especially if plows can't even get through. Who is going to take the barricades to close the road? Where do you put them? What do you do about the people that drive around them? Think for yourselves people. If we have a severe winter storm they don't close the road in front of my house. But that doesn't mean I need to get out there and drive on it.....geez!
Here's your sign: ROAD CLOSED
Never underestimate the greed of the 1% so labeled "job creators" by their Whore Republicans...
I wager the owner was cozy at home with his or her family safe and protected...
A hint for people on natural gas lines. Install a ventless heater. If the power goes out, you still have some heat. 800# dikhead, why don't you sit back and shut the fu-k up, and figure out how to spend your welfare check. After reading your posts, there is no way in hell you aren't a freeloader. Work is a swear word to you. LOSER.
A hint for people on natural gas lines. Install a ventless heater. If the power goes out, you still have some heat. 800# dikhead, why don't you sit back and shut the fu-k up, and figure out how to spend your welfare check. After reading your posts, there is no way in hell you aren't a freeloader. Work is a swear word to you. LOSER.
Ventless heatersd suck. Any decent one needs a flue.
Even if your local authorities didn't close roads early - The Weather Channel had been mentioning for more than 24hrs - be off all the roads by noon the day of the storm. If we have to start forcing people to actually try some common sense then its already too late for them.
I made sure I had enough beer on hand before the storm hit. Then I stayed home and drank it. Never set foot outside, even until now. Of course, I don't have to go to work anymore, but even if I had to, I would not have ventured out onto the roads until they were cleared. That way, you don't get stranded in the snow and have to be rescued, or possibly freeze to death if you weren't carrying the recommended snow emergency supplies like sleeping bags.
As the saying goes,some people just don't get it.
".....despite warnings to stay off the roads......"
Your tax dollars at work.....saving selfish, stupid idiots!
Nothing new here folks....move along....nothing to see! Darwin thwarted again!
There is something to be said for staying off the road unless it is emergency or you get called out to drive a plow truck or salt spreader. When all the low rider commuter cars get out there and stuck nothing much can move. More and more parked cars and the fashionable "traffic circles" and "nubs" make it harder and harder to plow than it used to be.
Employers who insist on having their employees on the job into the snow event should be required to provide for the employees to spend the night in shelter.
Even little 4 wheel drive cars with sporty tires on them that sit low to the road get stuck easily.
With all of the other traffic out there it is dangerous out there even if only a llittle coating of snow. And when it is coming down fast it piles up on your windshield blocking your vision.
The days of the 4 wheel drive are gone. Many of the crossovers have AWD. But they are FAR from the older vehicles made for offroading. todays "SUV's" are nothing more than a sportscar. 8 inches of snow and they are hung up.
You cannot fix stupid.
Stay off the highways, take shelter, prepare, a blizzard is coming.
They must think they are different. People just don't get it and then they whine about being stranded.