An estimated 16 inches of snow have fallen on New Haven so far — with high winds causing 113 power outages, and parking-ban violations leading to 208 vehicles towed. Mayor Justin Elicker provided that update at around 8:30 a.m. Monday on the latest with the blizzard that is walloping much of t he Northeast, including New Haven. The storm comes less than a month after another major winter storm dumped a foot of snow on the city. This time around, the city is bracing for up to two feet of snow — and wind gusts of up to 60 miles per hour. This is “the biggest storm we’ve seen in many, many years,” Elicker said on Monday, during a phone interview from the city’s activated Emergency Operations Center (EOC) at 200 Orange St. He said New Haven has received “well over a foot” of snow so far since Sunday evening, with city estimates putting the snowfall so far at around 16 inches. “Visibility is very bad at the moment, and the roads are very difficult to get through because of the quantity of snow that’s coming down per hour,” Elicker said. “Even a couple of snow plows have gotten stuck.” He said the city’s first priority is making sure the roads are passable for emergency vehicles. It’s “very important that people not drive on the roads” right now. “We’re really encouraging people not to drive at all.” He said that the city has seen 113 power outages so far, primarily in the Westville area. He said that there’s a tree on the power lines on Whittier Road and another on Kohary Drive. United Illuminating (UI) will go out to do assessments, he said, but they won’t go out in bucket trucks while winds are above 35 miles per hour. “Until the wind settles down, they may not be able to fix” these outages. So “we’re asking people to hold tight” for the time being. Elicker said the city’s fire department has received 44 calls for service so far, but fortunately “no major medical issues” and no major car crashes. A citywide parking ban went into effect at noon on Sunday. That means no parking on the odd-numbered side of the street in residential areas, and no parking on either side of the street on marked snow-emergency routes or downtown. Elicker said that the city has towed 208 vehicles and ticketed 228 for violating the storm-related parking ban. He said that the tag-and-tow crews were out until midnight last night, and then weather conditions got “too tough.” They’ll resume they’re parking-ban-enforcement work later today. He also said that a total of 189 people were in city warming centers and placed in hotels Sunday night. (In particular, 161 in warming centers and 28 in hotels.) “We still had capacity and no one’s turned away,” he said. The city currently has five warming centers open for people with nowhere else to go. Those are located at Varick church at 242 Dixwell Ave., the 180 Center at 438 East St., Upon This Rock’s homeless shelter at 645 Grand Ave., another Upon This Rock facility at 882 Grand Ave., and 1570 Chapel St. Those warming centers have a total capacity for 204 people. The post Whiteout: Blizzard Dumps 16 Inches Counting; 208 Towed For Violating Parking Ban appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less