Icy Roads Lead To Multi-Car Pileups, Closures Throughout Area

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Winter weather made a mess of area roads and caused treacherous driving conditions Sunday morning, with hundreds of accidents reported, including several multi-car pileups.

A record 2.09 inches of rain fell in Central Park, CBS2 Meteorologist Elise Finch reported.

And as the rain moved out of the area Sunday evening, there was a new concern: flooding.

A flood warning has been issued for Fairfield and Litchfield counties in Connecticut until 11:30 a.m. Monday.

In New Jersey, a flood warning was in effect in eastern and western Bergen County through 5 a.m.

An aerial flood warning was also issued in eastern and western Monmouth, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Morris, northwestern Burlington, and Somerset counties until 5 a.m. Monday.

As CBS2's Matt Kozar reported, one driver was forced to wade through several feet of water on Route 22 in New Jersey.

The Northern State Parkway on Long Island was closed at exit 35 due to flooding.

The Hutchinson River Parkway was also closed because of flooding between exit 12 and exit 16.

The right lane of the Belt Parkway was closed at exit 11 heading westbound and the left lane was closed at the same exit heading eastbound.

CHECK: Traffic Updates | Weather Forecast

Earlier in the day, up to 15 cars were involved in one crash on the southbound lanes of the Palisades Interstate Parkway near the approach to the George Washington Bridge, CBS2 reported.

Evan Brenner lost control on his way to Manhattan and was one of the 15 cars involved in the Palisades Parkway crash, CBS2's Ilana Gold reported.

"There's absolutely no warning until it's too late," he said. "People were screaming 'get out of your car, get out of the road, get out of the road.' And I turned around and another car was coming and the same thing happened."

Another crash involved at least 20 vehicles on the Cross Bronx Expressway near White Plains Road, CBS2 reported.

There was also a multi-vehicle accident on the Hutchinson River Parkway near the Cross County Parkway, WCBS 880 reported. And on Staten Island, there was a 15-car pileup at Clove and Richmond roads, 1010 WINS' Derricke Dennis reported.

In Teaneck, New Jersey, a mangled tractor-trailer was part of a 30-car pileup on I-95.

A witness recorded video of paramedics and bystanders rescuing a man who was having a heart attack in one of the cars, Gold reported. They used a blanket to drag him along the ice because an ambulance couldn't get close enough to the scene.

The conditions were so bad, the Long Island Expressway was briefly shutdown in both directions at the Midtown Tunnel.

The traffic problems extended far beyond those highways, however.

New Jersey State Police said there were at least 456 accidents reported in areas they patrol.

Sgt. Jeff Flynn told WCBS 880 there were at least two serious accidents, including one fatal crash in the borough of Lebanon.

PHOTOS: Icy Roads Wreak Havoc

There were closures on the Palisades Parkway, Cross Bronx Expressway, Bruckner Expressway, Saw Mill River Parkway, Sprain Brook Parkway, New England Thruway, New Jersey Turnpike and Northern State Parkway, among others. The Bayonne Bridge, Goethals Bridge and Outerbridge Crossing also were shut down. All of the roadways, however, had reopened by mid-afternoon.

MTA bus service in the Bronx and NJ TRANSIT bus service in northern New Jersey had been suspended, but routes were restored by Sunday afternoon.

Those taking MTA buses should plan for extra travel time as many routes are running with delays or service changes.

NJ TRANSIT is offering systemwide cross honoring of its rail, light rail and bus passes and tickets. Bus routes are delayed between 30 and 45 minutes.

Officials were urging people to avoid any unnecessary travel until conditions improved.

"New Yorkers should exercise extreme caution or avoid travel completely as icy roads and dangerous conditions are currently unavoidable," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement. "Staying off the roads will ensure needless accidents are avoided and allow storm response teams to prepare the roads for safe travel."

As WCBS 880's Monica Miller reported, Route 4 and I-95 in New Jersey resembled a parking lot and some cars pulled over to the shoulder of the road.

Drivers also sat motionless on the southbound lanes of I-95 between Fort Lee and Leonia.

Michelle was on her way to church, but decided to pull over to the shoulder after being shaken by witnessing what the black ice did to the mangled cars, which smashed into cement barriers and were facing the opposite direction of traffic.

"My safety is more important," she told Miller. "Let me just pull over and let the roads clear, let people come out and do what they need to do to the roads if they can."

An ambulance managed to squeeze its way through the idled cars to help victims of a pileup.

"Just poor planning, because they knew it was coming," said John, a firefighter.

Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop told 1010 WINS' Glenn Schuck that salt trucks were out there starting at 6 a.m. But as of 9 a.m., many communities in northern New Jersey had seen no salting at all, Schuck reported.

A Macy's driver said he cut off deliveries for the day after his truck was sliding all over the road.

"Have to be very careful because if you hit somebody, it's a problem," Darwin Martinez told Dennis.

A Maplewood, New Jersey, woman said she was stranded in her car on the New Jersey Turnpike for hours.

"Going very slow. Nerve-racking. Scary," she said.

Rohn, of Emerson, braved the cold, wet and miserable conditions -- slush underfoot and cold rain in the face.

"Very slick. I feel like I'm on a skating rink," he told WCBS 880's Jim Smith. "Not a great day to be out and about. And that's a shame cause it's putting a damper on so many NFL festivities. I was heading somewhere to watch a game."

Temperatures are expected to dip below freezing again Sunday night, causing concern for the re-freezing of wet roads, Finch reported.

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• Andrew Cuomo
• Flood