NEW YORK — "Bad luck" was to blame for the city descending into travel chaos as the first snow of the winter hit Thursday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday. The storm blanketed Central Park in more than six inches of snow, the most for that day in more than a century.

The weather trapped drivers on slushy roads — some were trapped on the George Washington Bridge for more than six hours — stranded commuters in a packed Port Authority Bus Terminal and left some kids stuck on school buses for hours. In one case, five children left their school in Manhattan around 2 p.m. but didn't get home to The Bronx until after midnight, City Councilman Ben Kallos said. The storm also knocked down hundreds of trees, leading to more than 1,300 service requests from New Yorkers as of Friday morning, according to City Council Speaker Corey Johnson.

The Department of Sanitation's failure to clear the roads spurred a blizzard of criticism from lawmakers and other New Yorkers. (Keep up with NYC events and news by subscribing to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)



But de Blasio said the city was caught in a "perfect storm" of unfortunate circumstances, including a bad forecast and a "chain reaction" stemming from the George Washington Bridge's closure. "We got just every form of bad luck we could have gotten yesterday," de Blasio said on NY1 Friday morning.

The Sanitation Department had nearly 700 salt spreaders deployed by noon, but the heavier-than-expected snowfall required plows to be sent out, said Melinda Bager, a department spokeswoman.

The weather forecast changed too late in the day for the city to properly warn drivers to stay off the roads, and the subsequent traffic nightmare impacted Sanitation's work, de Blasio said. He urged drivers to stay out of their cars Friday if they could.

The closure of several bridges also contributed to the mess, Bager said. "Tree branches also snapped from the weight of the snow, blocking many streets," she said in an email. "In all, more than 1,000 pieces of equipment were working through the night to clear all roadways for the morning's rush hour."

