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Eastern US braced for heavy snow after ice brings chaos to Washington roads Snow prompts states of emergency in Washington DC and Virginia
(about 1 hour later)
Drivers in the Washington area spent hours in icy gridlock ahead of heavy snowfall predicted to arrive by the weekend from Appalachia to Philadelphia and maybe farther north. Washington DC and Virginia have declared states of emergency over a storm that is expected to bring up to 2ft of snow. Schools and government services were set to shut down in the US capital on Friday.
On Thursday morning, Governor Terry McAuliffe of Virginia issued a state of emergency and said people should “take the threat of this storm seriously”, warning of travel disruptions and power outages. McAuliffe said crews were treating roads before the weekend storm hit, but state transportation officials urged drivers to stay off roads until the storm passes. Muriel Bowser, mayor of DC, said Winter Storm Jonas would be treated as a homeland security event, with all non-essential government services to shut from noon on Friday. She said the storm was set to hit the capital at about 4pm and would last until Saturday night, bringing more than 20in of snow and winds of up to 40mph.
Quentin Norman, a manager at a gas station and convenience store in Capitol Heights, Maryland, just outside Washington, said his commute home on Wednesday took an hour instead of the usual 15 minutes. The traffic and storm “kind of took us by surprise”, he said. “We are preparing for a blizzard,” Bowser said. “I have lived in DC for most of my life and I don’t think I’ve lived through a forecast like this, it’s an extremely large storm. We’re particularly concerned for our vulnerable and elderly residents.
“Everybody was talking about the weekend,” he said, and assumed Wednesday’s weather would just breeze through. “Unless you absolutely have to be outside tomorrow afternoon, get home straight away. I strongly encourage residents to avoid the roads until they are cleared. We have decided to close schools and send our employees home. We are asking residents for this 36-hour period to make good decisions and allow our crews out to work.”
By morning rush hour, treated roads were mostly clear. But some elevated roads, ramps and side streets were icy with drivers inching along. A 2,000-strong volunteer army will help vulnerable people through the storm, and “warming centers” will be set up for people to go to if there are power outages. More than 100 snowploughs will be deployed, with authorities set to dump 39 tons of salt to ensure that roads and sidewalks do not become too treacherous.
In Maryland, crews got stuck in lengthy backups on Wednesday night, slowing their progress, a state department of transportation spokesman, Charlie Gischlar, said. Major delays continued through the night on the Capital Beltway in Prince George’s County, but crews were making progress on Thursday morning, he said. Earlier, Bowser apologised following accusations that the city was not properly prepared for snow that arrived on Wednesday, causing icy conditions that halted traffic, reportedly including Barack Obama’s motorcade.
In northern Virginia, minor accidents built to gridlock and ramp closures continued through the night, a Virginia department of transportation spokeswoman, Jennifer McCord, said. She described “a long night for a lot of people trying to get home”. State police responded to 767 crashes over a 24-hour period ending early on Thursday, and two troopers were involved in accidents, spokeswoman Corinne Geller said. “If we’d gotten out a little earlier, we may have made a difference,” she said.
With more winter weather approaching, people throughout the region readied themselves for blocked roads, power outages and canceled flights. Governor Terry McAuliffe of Virginia also declared a state of emergency on Thursday, amid predictions that the snowstorm could beat previous storms in 2009 and 2010, dubbed “Snowmageddon” and “Snowpocalypse” respectively. The 2010 storm brought 17.8in of snow.
The National Weather Service said in a statement on Wednesday that 12 to 16in of snow could come down between Friday night and Sunday morning around the Interstate 95 corridor. As much as a foot of snow was possible for Philadelphia’s northern suburbs. Some forecasts are predicting at least 27in of snow for DC this time.
Mitchell Gaines of the NWS in Mount Holly, New Jersey, said people should be prepared for strong winds, heavy, wet snow and power outages. “All Virginians should take the threat of this storm seriously and take necessary precautions now to ensure they are prepared for travel disruptions and possible power outages during a cold weather period,” said McAuliffe.
The NWS’s Weather Prediction Center warned of heavy, “perhaps crippling” snow across the northern mid-Atlantic region, including Baltimore, Washington and Philadelphia, probably beginning on Friday. Virginia has deployed more than 500 vehicles to pretreat roads in northern parts of the state, which are expected to be hit by winds of up to 50mph, sleet and freezing rain.
In the District of Columbia, Mayor Muriel Bowser requested Humvees from the national guard to reach isolated people and places if necessary. About 50 million people are expected to be affected in some way by the storm, which is set to stretch from Arkansas to New England. The National Weather Service issued a blizzard watch for counties throughout New York, with 6in to 12in of snow expected to fall on New York City.
“If this is a blizzard and we have sustained winds and people lose power, that would be my biggest concern,” Bowser said. “We can move the snow. We will move the snow.” The city’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, advised residents to prepare emergency supply kits but said he did not expect the storm would require the subway to be shut down.
In the areas where blizzard conditions are possible, the weather service warns that travel will be limited or impossible. The strongest winds and potentially life-threatening conditions are expected on Friday night through Saturday night. Last year, the New York subway was shut down in expectation of a severe blizzard that did not materialise, causing embarrassment for authorities.
On Wednesday, the NWS issued blizzard and winter storm watches for parts of Maryland, Washington, Virginia, West Virginia and Arkansas. The watches start as early as Thursday and stretch into Saturday. The NWS said the “potentially crippling winter storm” would last until Saturday. Washington DC and Baltimore are expected to be worst hit, with “significant icing” likely for areas in Kentucky and North Carolina.
The storm will bring ice and freezing rain to Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky starting on Thursday, prediction center meteorologist Rich Otto said on Wednesday.
“There’s a lot of details that are yet to be seen,” Otto said. “Subtle changes can make a big difference. We’ve seen that in storms in the past.”
All major airlines have issued waivers for travel over the weekend, allowing passengers to rebook on to earlier or later flights to avoid the storms. The airports included vary by airline but include some cities in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia all the way up the coast to New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
Organizers of the March for Life said their annual anti-abortion rally in Washington would still be held on Friday, as scheduled.
The rally on the anniversary of the supreme court’s Roe v Wade decision is one of the largest events on the National Mall. Thousands of abortion opponents gather to listen to speeches before marching to the court.