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De Blasio: Disastrous Response to Snowstorm Result of 'Bad Luck'

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio / Getty
November 16, 2018

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D.) acknowledged there were "things we need to do better" but also blamed "bad luck" for a snowstorm that left New York snarled with traffic on Thursday.

New York City was hit with 6 inches of snow, and the city's traffic was brought to a complete standstill in some places. The George Washington Bridge was completely backed up after the nor'easter, and there were multiple car accidents due to the slippery roads. Democratic councilmen vented about New York's lack of preparedness on Twitter, the New York Post reported.

"There are definitely some things we need to learn from this and things we need to do better," de Blasio said on NY1. "But it’s also important to note we got just about every form of bad luck we could have gotten yesterday. The weather service reports changed radically yesterday."

The city was even forced to block further people from entering the Port Authority Bus Terminal

"We had here—I don’t want to overuse a phrase—we had here something of a perfect storm," de Blasio said, adding of the span closing, "I can’t remember that happening previously in the middle of what seemed to be a normal day. That really threw everything off. That had a horrible, extreme reaction on the entire city."

He also blamed the timing of the storm, saying it grew severe as rush hour was beginning. He promised a review of what went wrong.

"I’m not happy with the end result," de Blasio said. "That said, I don’t think it’s as simple as one factor or another."

Published under: Bill de Blasio , New York