It's not easy trekking for pedestrians or motorists today. In this photo, snow piles up on Bement Avenue in West Brighton.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Mayor Bloomberg will be bringing in hired help to assist Staten Island dig out from the more than foot of snow the storm dumped here, labeling the borough one of the "hardest hit" in the city.
The Department of Sanitation already has 1,600 plows on duty, Bloomberg announced during a briefing on the storm this morning, but will be calling in "hired equipment for the Island and the Bronx.
Plows are hitting the main roads here, but many side streets have yet to be touched.
Sanitation Commissioner John J. Doherty cautioned that there was a lot of snow on the Island and the Bronx and "still a lot of work to be done."
An unofficial measurement at the Advance's Grasmere offices tallied 14 inches as of 10:15 a.m.
The National Weather Service is calling for as much as 18 inches by the time the storm passes. Light to moderate snow will continue to fall through tonight. Wind gusts of 35 mph are causing blowing and drifting and limiting visibility for motorists.
A winter storm warning remains in effect until 6 a.m. tomorrow.
Conditions go so bad this morning, Staten Island Railway suspended service for up to an hour this morning. Trains resumed running just after 10 a.m.
Hundreds were without power on Staten Island this morning, including the Sanitation garage on Jersey Street. The outage at the Jersey Street garage meant that Sanitation workers couldn't open their garage doors, a worker told the Advance, and kept equipment already on the streets from being refueled.
Just before 6 this morning, Bloomberg closed public schools.
Most other schools -- including the College of Staten Island, Wagner College and St. John's University -- are also closed as are numerous meetings, sports and cultural events and other functions
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