New York mayor orders citywide travel ban ahead of major storm

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani declared a citywide travel ban ahead of a powerful snow storm that is expected to hit the US East Coast later Sunday.

To ensure emergency responders and essential workers can move safely and quickly, city streets will be closed to non-essential vehicular traffic from 9 p.m. Sunday to 12 p.m. Monday. The ban will not apply to essential workers or New Yorkers needing to travel due to emergencies.

The National Weather Service said blizzard conditions would "quickly materialize" from Maryland up to southeastern New England, making travel "extremely treacherous." Snow could fall at a rate of two to three inches per hour at the peak of the storm, with nearly 54 million people in its path, it said.