New York woke up Thursday under a thick blanket of snow, pledge of copious snowball battles in Central Park, at the end of a storm which wreaked havoc in the northeast of the United States and darkened a little more the mood of restaurateurs.
A snowstorm will have swept several states in the northeast of the United States for nearly 24 hours, the clouds gradually dissipating by midday Thursday.
More than three feet of snow fell in parts of upstate New York, but most major cities in the region received between ten and twenty centimeters of white powder instead.
At least six people have died, most in one of the thousands of traffic accidents that have taken place in the region, according to several US media.
Authorities have said the storm will not affect the distribution of vaccines against Covid-19, which began last weekend.
In New York, garbage trucks adorned with snowplows crisscrossed the avenues of the city with their characteristic screeching, while the janitors of the buildings assaulted shovels, spreaders, or brooms.
In Central Park, the lungs of Manhattan, from the early hours of the day, cross-country skiers enjoyed a snow cover not seen in New York in these proportions for five years.
“It’s brilliant,” enthuses Elyse Mallyn, in her sixties, who goes up the circular route on skis to the north.
“There is something a bit magical,” added Paul Huzarski, another skier. “I can get up, cross the street and go skiing.”
He who hates cross-country skiing came on alpine skis, but for lack of time, did not find a slope to his liking.
– “Enjoying New York” –
South of the Metropolitan Museum, Cypress Hill, the park’s most famous sliding spot, is gradually filling up with children who have come with their parents.
“It’s better to come early because it will be very dense soon,” rejoices John Wilcox, who has come to spend a few hours down the slope with his ten-year-old son.
“It’s a good break to be able to go out and have an activity,” he says. Right now, with the pandemic, “there isn’t much you can do.”
“We were not able to return to France this year, so we are trying to make the most of New York without tourists,” explains Julie Grandperrin, who came with her son Lucas by bus.
While the dozens of dogs who take their daily walks happily snort in the snow, Cypress Hill gives its first scares. The first tears resonate soon after a fall.
“There is less pollution (at the moment in New York), so things are whiter and more beautiful. It’s exceptional”, marvels Thomas Jacquot, in the company of his two children. “It is one of the few advantages of the pandemic.”
Hot chocolate in the backpack, this father says he’s happy to be working from home, for once.
Most children are missing, however. Students of the public, they were not entitled to a “snow day”, a day without lessons, because distance education now makes it possible to avoid travel.
“It would have been nice to see them all there,” regrets Kristen Bilowus, a young professional who bought a sledge two days ago. But the snow promised to last until the end of the lessons, around 2:00 p.m.
While in Pilgrim Hill, further south of the park, Kristen has “taken time off” from work, which she does from home, she says with a smile, but will have to come home for a meeting.
“It was very important” to be able to enjoy the snow, she says. “Today is a really good day. It’s great to be able to go out and exercise after this difficult year.”
For restaurateurs, on the other hand, the bad patch only continues. The town hall has indeed suspended the service outside, the only currently authorized, even if it was to resume on Thursday evening.
“It’s one more setback,” laments Fnu Dedy, manager of a Japanese restaurant in the Upper West Side.
Source: AFP
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