Hoboken Has A Hard Day’s Night In Snowstorm (PHOTOS)

HOBOKEN, NJ — Tree limbs and power lines crashed to the ground. Traffic snarled. And Hoboken’s “Snow Emergency Plan” got off to a rocky start. All of which contributed to a somewhat apocalyptic scene in the Mile Square City on Thursday evening amid the winter’s first snowstorm.

What began as a National Weather Forecast of 1 to 3 inches of snow turned into more than 5 inches, which picked the worst possible time to fall: the evening rush hours. The snow then transformed into a freezing rain, covering Hoboken’s roads.

All the while, things got increasingly ugly.

“Crews from the Department of Environmental Services and Hudson County plowed and salted all roadways overnight,” municipal officials said in a news release on Friday morning. In addition, city workers prepared for the storm by clearing catch basins of leaves and debris, stocking road salt, filling snow blowers, and fitting trucks with plows and salt spreaders.

City crews began salting roadways at noon and plowing when snow totals passed one inch around 3 p.m. However, “despite the city’s best efforts to plow roads effectively,” regional traffic woes prevented proper execution of the municipal Snow Emergency Plan, officials said.

And that’s when the gridlock began to hit. (Story continues below photo)

SNOW HITS HOBOKEN: THE ROAD TO NOWHERE

According to city officials, it wasn’t just local drivers who turned Hoboken’s roads into parking lots on Thursday.

Officials released the below statement about the traffic situation on Nov. 15:

“At rush hour, gridlock in the regional transportation system leading from New York City and Route 495 spread into Hoboken. Traffic extended from the Park and Willow Ave bridges as far south as 3rd Street. In the middle of rush hour, two buses and several vehicles became disabled on the Park Avenue bridge, causing further traffic delays. County plows were unable to plow county roads in Hoboken as quickly as usual due to traffic gridlock throughout Hudson County. The city is actively working with the county to ensure that for all future snow events, county roads including the Park and Willow Avenue Bridges are properly salted and plowed for traffic.”

At the same time, Hoboken’s emergency responders were kept busy by a steady flow of falling trees and tree limbs – many of which still had loads of leaves - which crumpled under the weight of the heavy snowfall.

Emergency responders closed several streets due to safety concerns, but prioritized cleanup efforts on primary roads to get traffic flowing, city officials said.

When the trees fell, some took live wires with them, officials reported:

“More than five electric wires also fell, but regional traffic delays prevented PSEG crews from arriving in Hoboken until 10 p.m. Crews continued to remove downed trees and fix downed electric wires throughout the night.”

Hoboken Police Chief Ken Ferrante said that the city wasn’t the only place to be hit hard by the storm.

“It’s the entire Tri-State area,” Ferrante wrote on Twitter. “Weather came that was much worse than forecasted… region-wide crisis!”

All told, it added up to the perfect storm, officials said.

“These unprecedented traffic delays and other unique conditions prevented snow plowing operations in much of Hoboken during the snow event,” city spokespeople wrote. “While city plows were on the streets, they were unable to navigate until the gridlock began clearing around 7 p.m. Crews remained on the streets plowing and salting overnight. Crews also cleared ADA ramps on Washington Street and near the PATH area overnight.”

• See related article: Bayonne Bridge Closed In Snow Storm; 'Trucks Can't Get Up Ramp'

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Photo via Ken Ferrante