Snowstorm Heavier Than Expected; Covid Knocks Out 8% Of Public Works; Parking Ban Lifted

Martin Ramos aimed for the fluffiest looking spot of snow he could find and dug in — as he, along with New Haveners across the city, spent their morning shoveling their way out of a heavier-than-expected first snowstorm of the new year.

Ramos, a 20 year-old professional landscaper, was out early on Cedar Hill Avenue, clearing his grandma’s driveway of snow on his day off from work. 

By 8:30 a.m., he had already been out shoveling for nearly half an hour. Snow was still falling, with an expected accumulation of eight to nine inches by the end of the day.

“I used to do this for a living,” he said while taking a quick shoveling break to talk with this reporter. So he knows the tricks of the trade.

Like what?

“Go for a straight line in the fluffiest spot you can find,” he said, pointing back to the cleared driveway behind him. Push and shovel the snow to the side. And then repeat.

Twenty minutes earlier and a half-mile east of Cedar Hill on Middletown Avenue, Mayor Justin Elicker and a handful of top city officials hosted a press conference in the salt shed at the back of the city’s public works headquarters.

“It’s been a long night,” city Emergency Operations Director Rick Fontana said. ​“We’ve gotten a lot more snow than we had anticipated.”

Here’s the latest with the snowstorm, according to the Friday morning update given by Elicker, Fontana, city Chief Administrative Officer Regina Rush-Kittle, and New Haven Police Lt. Stephan Torquati:

• The city has a total of 40 vehicles out clearing snow Friday morning. That includes ​“larger plows and smaller crews,” Elicker said. Ten of those vehicles are courtesy of city-hired contractor Laydon Industries. And three of the city’s larger vehicles had some ​“mechanical issues,” and are currently offline being fixed.

• ​“Our folks in public works have been out all night,” Rush-Kittle said. They started one plowing shift at 11 p.m. Thursday. Another shift came in at 3 a.m. The Laydon contractors started at 2 a.m. and worked through the night.

• The public works department has had ​“some challenges with staffing levels” due to the ongoing surge of the Covid-19 pandemic, Rush-Kittle said. The city has cancelled trash collection in the East Shore and Annex Friday, and has moved over workers from that beat to help with plowing. Elicker said that trash collection that was scheduled for Friday will now take place on Saturday. 

• On Friday afternoon, city spokesperson Kyle Buda told the Independent that roughly 13 of the city’s 148 active public works department employees — or roughly 8.7 percent — are currently out due to Covid. He said that roughly 14.5 percent of the police department and 12.5 percent of the fire department are also out because of positive tests or known exposures.

• A downtown and snow-emergency-route parking ban that went in place at midnight remains in effect, and will be extended to 5 p.m. Friday. City Transportation, Traffic & Parking Director Sandeep Aysola said that no cars were tagged and towed overnight, though he expects some will be Friday morning as his crew of four TT&P workers hits the streets to enforce the ban.

• The police department responded to 295 calls for service between midnight and 7 a.m., Torquati said, including just one car accident.

• The city has seen only one large tree limb downed by the storm so far. Elicker said that that occurred outside of his house in East Rock on Orange Street. ​“We expect winds to pick up” this afternoon, Fontana said, getting to as high as 20 to 25 miles per hour and going through the night. ​“The temperature is going to get better for us,” he continued, and hopefully the snow will begin to melt later today and tomorrow. ​“Snow operations are going to go into the weekend.”

• Elicker urged residents to shovel out their sidewalks, and to clear a path wide enough to allow for a wheelchair to pass through. ​“You’ve got to clean your sidewalks,” he said. ​“That is the law in New Haven. And it’s also the compassionate thing to do for your neighbors.”

• Schools are closed Friday for a snow day, and school parking lots are available and free to park in for New Haven residents. Click here for a list of NHPS parking lots. The Temple Street Garage, Granite Square Garage, Crown Street Garage, and 270 State St. garage are available to park at for $3 a day during the storm. And the following Yale lots are open for free for city residents to park at: 409 Prospect St., 260 Whitney Ave., 73 Sachem St., 280 Washington Ave., 39 Prince St., 344 Winchester Ave., 276 Winchester Ave.

Click here to watch the full press conference.

At around 11:15 a.m. Friday, Elicker sent out a citywide email and text message alert with an update about the snow storm. That message read:

We received more snow than we were expecting last night — approximately 8 inches. The good news is that the snow is light and fluffy, but as a result, we’re extending the downtown and emergency route parking ban until 5 PM. Please do not park in those areas so we can clear snow.

We’ve had 40 vehicles from Parks and Public Works out clearing snow all night. Our teams will continue to work through the day to clear the roads. As a reminder, please make sure to shovel your sidewalk wide enough so someone in a wheel chair can pass. We appreciate your flexibility and continue to urge caution when driving.