Governor Hochul: "I want to thank New Yorkers for listening to us and literally staying off the roads, staying home at a critical time when we needed to be out there with the early salting and then the removal of snow while the snow is coming down at such a rapid pace. We're in a much better place than people would have anticipated. And it sure helped to have it happen on a weekend as opposed to during our normal commuting days. So, this was a fortunate circumstance, but it's all about preparation. You can't control the weather, but you can control how prepared you are. We were extremely prepared with our response, and we have a lot of seasoned professionals."
Earlier this morning, Governor Kathy Hochul was a guest on WCBS-TV with Cindy Hsu to update New Yorkers on the winter storm.
AUDIO of the interview is available here.
A rush transcript of the interview is available below:
Cindy Hsu: Well, Governor Kathy Hochul joins us live on the phone now with an update on the storm's impact in New York. Good morning, governor.
Governor Hochul: Good morning. How are you?
Cindy Hsu: I'm doing very well. And you know, and we're asking you with the storm now behind us, what are the state's priorities in terms of recovery?
Governor Hochul: Well, we are continuing to have the roads plowed because there are areas with blowing drifts and this is what gets dangerous. You might originally be able to push it off to the side, but then when the winds kick up, they start to have blinding conditions for motorists and you have to keep that snow off the road. The plows are out there on all the state roads. They kept them all clear and open throughout the entire duration of the storm. But now we're actually helping some of the hard hit smaller towns, particularly on Eastern Long Island where we've taken over plowing some of their roads to help them.
So, we're in a supportive role now, as well as taking care of the main arteries and we have feel very good about the low number of accidents, maybe 300 minor accidents, which is compared to what it could have been stranded vehicles and a whole worse scenario, I want to thank New Yorkers for listening to us and literally staying off the roads, staying home at a critical time when we needed to be out there with the early salting and then the removal of snow while the snow is coming down at such a rapid pace.
We're in a much better place than people would have anticipated. And it sure helped to have it happen on a weekend as opposed to during our normal commuting days. So, this was a fortunate circumstance, but it's all about preparation. You can't control the weather, but you can control how prepared you are. We were extremely prepared with our response, and we have a lot of seasoned professionals. I'm personally from Buffalo and have managed many snow responses over my years in elected office. So, I can assess this one and then the result is very positive right now.
Cindy Hsu: All right, Governor, you mentioned Long Island. Are there any other particular trouble spots you're focusing your resources on?
Governor Hochul: Well, Islip, the town of Islip, we're out there plowing about 60 to 90 of their lane miles with our state crews because they needed some extra help. They were the hardest hit. We're going to give them the golden snowball award for this week, this storm. They were at 24.7 inches, which is a significant amount for an area. These areas don't have the resources to be dealing with snow storms on an ongoing basis like other parts of our state are. So, we're just there to give them help.
I was on calls with all of our county executives in the region yesterday, continually asking, what do you need? How can we help? And it is that level of partnership that has really helped us get through this as well.
Cindy Hsu: Governor, are you satisfied with the efforts to keep the roadways clear, especially in the city, Westchester County, and Long Island.
Governor Hochul: Well, the state roads, what we're responsible for, they were kept 100 percent open through the duration. And we also provide a supplemental role, if a county needs us to come in to help them, which is exactly what we're doing. So, we're there to support them, but we have prime responsibility for all the state roads. They were kept open 100 percent during that storm, which is quite an extraordinary accomplishment.
Cindy Hsu: It really is. What do you think about the MTAs performance during the big storm?
Governor Hochul: A+ for them. They kept it all open. People anticipated there'd be shutdowns. We had no weather-related disruptions on the MTA. The trains were running. The buses were running. Metro North, LIRR service resumed at 5:00 AM this morning, just a slight disruption at the far Eastern end of Long Island, services full, but there's an area east of Ronkonkoma where people have to take a bus to get to the next connection. But, given that this entire system could have been paralyzed and it was not, the people who worked clearing the tracks and working tirelessly through the days and nights deserve a tremendous amount of credit for keeping that critical lifeline open.
Cindy Hsu: Yes, our essential workers did an amazing job. Governor Hochul, thanks so much for your time and the update on the storm. I hope you get some sleep sometime soon.
Governor Hochul: At some point we will, but let's finish the cleanup and before we spike the football here, but I want to thank New Yorkers for their role in making it easier for us to do our jobs. And thank you for all the great coverage.
Cindy Hsu: Thank you, Governor.