NY Governor Helps Stranded Motorist after Storm Briefing

On Thursday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo held downstate storm briefings with senior administration officials on how powerful weather conditions are affecting the region, including the Hudson Valley, Long Island and New York City.

Afterward, the governor stopped to help a stranded motorist on the Sprain Brook Parkway in Mount Pleasant.

Cuomo's storm briefing was held with Ronnie Hakim, MTA Interim Executive Director, and Kevin Wisely, Director of the Office of Emergency Management.

"What is happening on long Island as well as in the Hudson Valley, we’re successful cleaning the main roads. The ramps on and off become problematic," he said. "People get stuck on the ramps because there’s an incline and that then starts to back up traffic all across the board. And once you have a few cars stuck on a ramp, the plows can’t get in, the tow truck can’t get in and now you have a problem."

Then he got to see just how nasty the Hudson Valley roads were.

Cuomo, who used to drive a tow truck when he was younger, gave assistance to Noach Fisher from Brooklyn.

Most people didn't try to drive.

Metro-North saw basically 30 percent of their normal weekday ridership, Hakim said at the briefing.

He also gave a report on the storm's impacts on the region. It'll be a slow return to service for the three major airports, he said. LaGuardia had 655 cancellations, 347 departures, and 308 arrivals have been cancelled. About 60 percent of the entire daily activity was cancelled. Newark had 618 cancellations, 340 departures, 278 arrivals. JFK had 700 cancellations.

"Depending on how the snow does taper off, hopefully we'll be in a position where we can return to normal beginning tomorrow," Cuomo said.

More photos of Cuomo helping the motorist on the Sprain are available here.

PHOTOS/ governorandrewcuomo on Flickr