Snow takes residents by surprise

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) -- There have been a number of wrecks in the snow tonight. And a lot of people all over our state still can't believe we are taking another blow from mother nature.

A car sat idle off of I-91 in Hamden Wednesday night, a casualty of the slick surface and difficult driving conditions.

The highways had been plowed. News 8 saw several trucks clearing the snow, but many of the surface streets were still accumulating inch after inch of the white stuff. None of the roads in and around New Haven appeared to have been pre-treated and rush hour reflected that with traffic tie-ups and bad back-ups all along the interstates. Still, some intrepid souls ventured out.

"Oh, yeah, best time to go shopping, nobody's in the stores," Cromwell resident Gary Kramer said laughing.

Kramer headed south to New Haven from Cromwell, but with the wind gusts and steady snowfall it was really slow-going.

"About an hour and a half with all the traffic and accidents," Kramer said, "so it keeps backing up, back and forth all the way down 91."

Some had even further to go and were pretty unhappy about it.

"Yes, it's horrible," said Soraya Gomez, of Queens, New York.

Gomez' family was returning to New York after coming to Connecticut for a funeral. They stopped to get some gas because there are still long lines in Queens, but they had no hats, no gloves and not the best shoes for a Nor'easter: high heels.

"Are you cold," asked News 8's Annie Rourke.

"Freezing," Gomez said. "I'm trying to help my sister, but I don't know what we're gonna do over here."

The severity of the storm took many by surprised, so some weren't really prepared.

"Actually no, I thought it was gonna all be rain, so actually didn't expect it, no," said Vincent Verderame, of New Haven.

However, it is November in the New England and anything can happen. You have to just go with the flow, and Wednesday that meant the snow.

"Work in it, play in it, whatever it is," Verderame said laughing.