emergency vehicles, ambulances and the like, couldn't get to them because the streets were blocked. one woman says that her father was ill. she called for help. the ambulance couldn't reach him. he ended up dying. they still could not reach them. she had to spend 16 hours in the house with the body of her dead father. now, the bloomberg administration is accepting responsibility for everything that's happened. they said they are accountable. they're going to launch a full investigation and try to get to the bottom of what happened here and why this storm was not dealt with a little bit better. in the meantime, residents here are just waiting to get dug out of their street. norah? >> real horror stories. mara, thanks so much. and up next, why 2011 will be a make or break year for the u.s. strategy in afghanistan. and still ahead, naacp president benjamin joins us to talk about his fight to secure the release of two sisters serving double life sentences for an $11 armed robbery. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc.