New York Governor Talks Storm Prep
TAPPER: Welcome back. The governor of New York is speaking. Let's listen in.</s>GOVERNER ANDREW CUOMO, NEW YORK: -- nothing really changed. To the extent it changed, it got worse. The winds on Long Island have actually increased the estimate for the speed of the winds. Gusts up to 70 miles per hour, which is a significant issue for the eastern end of Long Island. Again, the track of the storm is passing New York City, Westchester, Mid-Hudson and then along Long Island and up towards Connecticut, and the worst of it on Long Island. So the estimates that we reached earlier, we are going to now firm up. The MTA and Port Authority will be closing the facilities at 11:00. If you have to use those facilities, you should plan to use the facilities and get wherever you're going by 11:00 because that's going to be a hard stop time. We are also restricting travel on all roads in the 13 counties from Ulster, Sullivan South, including Orange and Putnam, New York City and Long Island. That's 11:00, a travel restriction for all roads, state roads, local roads, city roads, town roads, except for emergency personnel. This is a serious situation. If you violate this state order, it's a possible misdemeanor. It is fines up to $300 and that will go into effect at 11:00 also. The two lessons we have learned dealing with the situation more times than we would care to, getting the subways and the railroad cars in a safe position is key so that when the weather does leave, we are in a position for the system to start back up. We saw that under Hurricane Sandy, so that's what we're trying to do here with the 11:00 closing down. And number two, in terms of keeping people off the roads, the roads are very dangerous. We have just been out to Long Island and driven around the metropolitan area. The roads are already very, very dangerous. They are going to be very hard to clear at the rate of snowfall we expect with the wind gusts we expect, so it's dangerous to be out there now. It's only going to become more dangerous. At one point it's irresponsible. So 11:00 for all roads to close. I'm going to ask pat to give us an update on the airports and what he hears from the airlines and then we will take it from there.</s>PAT FOYE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PORT AUTHORITY, NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY: Governor, very extensive delays and cancellations, even more extensive cancellations than we reported in the earlier press conference. Virtually all flights at LaGuardia tomorrow will be canceled and significant cancellations at JFK as well. The typical advice we give is call your carriers if you are planning on leaving tomorrow when the roads have been reopened, whenever that time is. But very extensive cancellations at all airports, expect significant delays.</s>CUOMO: OK, anyone have anything else? Superintendent? Commissioner? Questions?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Governor, can you explain, every bus, make it crystal clear --</s>CUOMO: Exactly right, it is the entire system. We started talking earlier this afternoon about people should leave earlier to get home. We talked about a soft close time for the system of about 10:00, so get where you were going by 10:00. The hard close time is 11:00. It will start to slow -- the service will slow up until 11:00 and it will stop at 11:00 because we will be moving the trains, subway trains, as well as the railroad cars to safer locations. On the roads, in that 13 county area, it is a total travel restriction ban. If you are in your car and you are on any road, town, village, city, doesn't matter, after 11:00, you will technically be committing a crime, a misdemeanor, and a summons up to $300, and we will issue those summons. That will be in effect until we see what happens tomorrow. Those counties are Mid-Hudson, Westchester Rockland, New York City and Long Island.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).</s>CUOMO: We will monitor tomorrow morning early. Remember, the storm is supposed to pick up tonight, go through tomorrow, so we will watch it as it goes. Also, we have emergency personnel who need to get places. I can tell you already, cars are getting stuck on the highways and it only takes two cars to get stuck and the traffic backs up and that's it. And it is phenomenally difficult and time-consuming to then get the right equipment in there to move cars, et cetera. And it is no joke to have people stranded on a highway. We have gone through that before. It is frightening how quickly a simple trip --</s>TAPPER: That's New York Governor Andrew Cuomo warning the people of New York to stay off the roads. That is it for THE LEAD for today. I'm Jake Tapper. I now turn you over to Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM. Stay safe, everyone. Stay inside.