As New Yorkers' fury intensified at the sight of streets still covered with snow, Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Wednesday acknowledged the city's response to the blizzard was 'a lot worse' than previous storms and he voiced enormous dismay with the performance of the 911 system.

'My heart really does go out to those who experienced trauma and tragedy during the storm,' said Mr. Bloomberg following reports of people who died waiting for ambulances to arrive. 'We take our emergency life-saving responsibilities very seriously and I'm extremely dissatisfied with the way our emergency-response systems performed.'

Mr. Bloomberg, speaking at a hardware store in the Bronx, said the city's 911 system became overwhelmed by the deluge of calls. On Monday, the city received more than 49,400 calls to 911, the sixth-largest volume in history, resulting that night in a backlog of roughly 1,700 calls to the NYPD and FDNY.

The mayor has ordered a comprehensive review of the 911 call-taking and dispatch functions, as some of the loved ones of those who died have taken to the airwaves to express their grief and anger at the city's sluggish response to the storm.

The administration is examining, among other things, whether ambulances should have taken different routes, and whether emergency personnel should have parked farther away from scenes and walked.

More than 48 hours after the last flake fell, a large swath of southern Brooklyn, parts of western Queens and areas of Staten Island remained covered with snow. Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty said he expected to have 'all the streets' in the city plowed by 7 a.m. Thursday.

The mayor, who has been the target of withering criticism from elected officials and residents, many of whom supported his controversial bid for a third term, conceded his administration failed to respond properly to the blizzard. The mayor speculated as to why─such as an unusually high number of stranded vehicles blocking roads and strong winds deterring snow removal─but he said he couldn't offer any firm conclusions yet.

'We did not do as good a job as we wanted to do or as the city has a right to expect,' the mayor said. 'I cannot tell you for sure why it was a lot worse this time than the other times.'

Still, the mayor offered a strong defense of Mr. Doherty, insisting the commissioner will serve the remaining three years of the mayor's term. 'This is the best sanitation commissioner this city has ever had. Period. Bar none,' Mr. Bloomberg said.

The region's transportation network continued its slow return to normalcy Wednesday. Its three commuter railroads ran close to their usual service, and gaps in subway service caused by the snow were filled in.

There were just over 250 cancellations at the region's three airports, down from 1,000 Tuesday. The airports handle 3,000 flights on an average day.

'Things are slowly but surely getting back to normal,' said Ron Marsico, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

But snow-covered roads continued to slow buses. Many routes were detoured or delayed, especially in Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island.

In Brooklyn, some major thoroughfares remained clogged, sections of sidewalks were covered with snow and garbage cans overflowed with rubbish. At Lincoln Place and Washington Avenue in Prospect Heights, cars began double parking along the snowbanks in the intersection.

Yellow-cab driver David Baker, who made it 50 feet from a garage before his cab became stuck, estimated he's lost $1,500 in earnings as a result of the storm. 'I can't get through the street. Nobody is helping me,' said Mr. Baker, who noted he's always supported the mayor. 'Things happen, but he can do better than that.'

At the corner of Cortelyou Road and Argyle Street in Ditmas Park, Liena Zagare, a 34-year-old local blogger, took it upon herself to shovel the crosswalk. She cleaned the crosswalk on both sides of the street five times in the past few days, she said. Argyle Street, a side road, was 'plowed for the first time around lunchtime' Wednesday, she said.

'I got tired of watching people not be able to cross, stopping and staring sadly,' she said.

Ditmas Park, which is served only by the B and Q trains, had been without subway service until Wednesday, and buses have been running 'once in a blue moon,' she said.

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, borrowing the mayor's words for the Board of Elections' botched handling of the September primary, has called the city's response to the storm a 'royal screw-up.'

In an interview on CNN, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said, 'People are mad and they have every right to be mad and I really understand that anger....Almost every other storm in memory the city has done so much better than this.'

Mr. Doherty said his department has set a 'very high standard' with previous storm responses and 'unfortunately' this time didn't meet that standard. But, he said, 'I'm not here to make excuses right now.'

The mayor promised to do better in the future.

'The results were not what we'd like them to be, but it has not been for lack of effort,' he said. 'We'll find what was different this time and try doing everything we can to make sure it's better next time.'

Getty Images路人和应急工作人员试图推动一辆陷入冰雪中的救护车。

暴风雪过后，纽约街道的积雪长久未能得到清理，市民积怨日深。12月29日，纽约市长迈克尔•布隆伯格(Michael Bloomberg)在布朗克斯区一家五金店公开承认，市政府在这场暴风雪中的表现比之前的历次暴风雪要糟糕得多，并表示对911系统的表现非常失望。

有多起报导称，有人在等候救护车的过程中死去，针对这些报导，布隆伯格表示，“对那些在此次暴风雪中经受了创伤和悲剧的人，我深表同情。我们对于紧急救生责任是非常重视的，但是我们的应急系统此次的表现令我极度失望。”

布隆伯格说，汹涌而至的来电让纽约市的911系统应接不暇。12月27日，纽约市911系统接到了49400多个来电，是有史以来数量第六多的。结果，当天晚上，纽约警察局(FDNY)和纽约消防局(FDNY)有1700多个来电未能得到及时处理。

一些在此次暴风雪中失去亲人和爱人的人士通过广播表达了对市政府危机当头应对迟缓的不满，市长已经下令对911的接听和调度功能进行全面的审查。

管理部门已着手开始审查，审查内容包括：救护车是否非得改道而行，紧急救援人员是否只能将车停在远处再步行至事发地，等等。

在降雪停止超过48个小时之后，布鲁克林南部的大部分区域、皇后区的西部以及斯塔滕岛的部分区域依然为积雪所覆盖。纽约市卫生局局长约翰•多尔蒂(John Doherty)称，他希望全城所有街道的雪能在12月30日，清晨7点之前全部清扫完毕。

布隆伯格市长此次成了民选官员和市民大加挞伐的对象，其实在他颇有争议的第三次连任时这些人很多都是支持他的。布隆伯格承认，他领导的政府未能对此次暴风雪做出妥当的处理。他也试着分析了个中原因──比如数量超乎寻常的滞留车辆导致了道路拥堵，强风为积雪清理工作增大了难度──不过，他说，目前尚无法给出确切的结论。

布隆伯格说，“我们的工作没有达到想要的效果，没有达到市民的预期。我现在还无法确切说出，为什么这一次的表现会比其他时候糟糕这么多。”

布隆伯格还为多尔蒂极力辩护，坚称在他市长任上的后三年时间里，多尔蒂也将继续留任。布隆伯格说，“多尔蒂是纽约市有史以来最好的卫生局长，绝对是这样。”

29日，纽约的交通网络继续缓慢回复正轨，三条通勤铁路已基本恢复正常，因降雪而停运的地铁路段也已开通运营。

三大机场一共取消的航班为250次，28日则是高达1000次。三大机场平均每天起落3000次航班。

纽约及新泽西州港务局(Port Authority of New York and New Jersey)的发言人罗恩•马尔西科(Ron Marsico)说，一切都在逐步走回正轨，过程虽然缓慢，但是势头稳定。

不过，公交巴士仍然受到路面积雪的阻碍。多路公交巴士被迫改道甚至取消，尤其是在皇后区、布鲁克林和斯塔滕岛。

布鲁克林有些主干道仍然通行不畅，有多处人行道仍为积雪覆盖，垃圾堆积成山。在林肯中心和普罗斯佩克特高地的华盛顿大街，车子在十字路口的雪堆边上并排停放。

出租车司机戴维•贝克(David Baker)的车子在距离汽车修理厂50码的地方动不了了，他预计此次暴风雪让他损失了1500美元的收入。贝克说他一直都是市长的忠实拥护者，他说，“我没法开到路对面去。没人来帮我。情况是很糟糕，不过他本来可以做得更好的。”

34岁的列娜•扎加雷(Liena Zagare)是纽约的一位博客作者，她在迪特马斯公园社区的科特尔尤路和阿盖尔街的街角清扫人行道上的雪。她说，过去这几天，她每天要把街道两边的人行道清扫五次。阿盖尔街因为不是主干道，一直到29日中午才第一次有扫雪机来清扫。

她说，看到人们没法过马路，只能凄惨地站在路边观望，我实在受不了了。

迪特马斯公园社区只有B号和Q号地铁到达，地铁直到29日才恢复通车，公共巴士──用扎加雷的话说是──千载难逢地来上一趟。

布鲁克林区区长马蒂•马考维兹(Marty Markowitz)借用了布隆伯格对选举委员会在九月份初选时的糟糕表现的评语，称纽约市对此次暴风雪的应对是“糟糕得一塌糊涂”。

在接受CNN采访时，市议会发言人克里斯蒂•奎恩(Christine Quinn)说，“人们出离了愤怒，他们完全有权利这么做，对他们的愤怒我完全理解……记忆中纽约几乎每一次暴风雪，市政府的应对都比这次要好得多。”

多尔蒂称卫生局根据此前遭遇暴风雪的经历设定了非常高的标准，不幸的是，这一次的表现没能达到这个标准。不过，他表示，“我现在不是在为我们找借口。”

布隆伯格允诺，今后一定会有更好的表现。

他说，“我们也不愿意见到这样的结果，不过并不是因为我们不够努力。我们一定要找出此次失误的原因，全力以赴保证下次的表现有所改进。”