This article is from the source 'washpo' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/one-of-the-biggest-storms-in-regions-history-brings-washington-to-standstill/2016/01/24/53f10b28-c283-11e5-a4aa-f25866ba0dc6_story.html

The article has changed 16 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 6 Version 7
Snowzilla is done with us, but now the shoveling begins Snowzilla is done with us, but now the shoveling begins
(about 5 hours later)
The Washington region, battered by one of the biggest snow storms in recent memory, began a monumental dig out Sunday that is likely to continue for days and hobble the area well into the workweek. The Washington region lurched fitfully from under one of the heaviest snow falls in memory Sunday, with the Metro system prepared to offer severely limited service Monday and authorities warning it could take days for the plows to reach some residential streets.
And, in the first sign of how difficult that digging out may be, Metro said it won’t announce whether it will reopen Monday until sometime this afternoon. The system shut down completely during the storm. Metro, which records more than 730,000 rail trips on an average weekday, said it would resume service on a fraction of its operations -- partial service on three underground rail lines and 22 bus routes -- after being shut down for the weekend by the storm.
“We’re still assessing things, but the effects of the storm are likely to be felt for days,” spokesman Dan Stessel said Sunday morning. Whatever rail and bus service is available Monday, if any, “will not be normal,” he said. Virtually all school systems and colleges in the region said they would be closed on Monday. No announcement has been made regarding whether the federal government will be open. D.C. government will be closed.
But D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) announced that the city’s public schools will be closed Monday. Fairfax County, the region’s largest school system also will be closed. Authorities urged drivers to stay off the roads, pedestrians to stay out of the streets and said that digging out from a storm that lasted almost 36 hours and delivered two feet of snow will hobble movement well into the work week.
The morning brought the sight of mountains of plowed snow, and landscapes buried thigh-deep in white. In additional to paralyzing the region, the storm brought airplane traffic in and out of the region’s three major airports to a virtual halt. Flights won’t return to normal until early in the week, causing the U.S. House to cancel an abbreviated session it had planned from Monday to Wednesday.
“Where are we going to put it all?” a Falls Church Hampton Inn manager, Dorene Sapp, said she thought, as she pondered the snow in her parking lot.
It was the question of the day.
The epic nor’easter of 2016 closed its 36-hour reign over the D.C. region Saturday night, moving up the Atlantic coast, hammering other cities in its path, and leaving in its wake a light breeze, cold temperatures and clear skies.
[Live updates as Washington begins to dig out][Live updates as Washington begins to dig out]
With the return of the sun, thoughts turned to Monday, and the start of the week, when it appeared the storm recovery could extend the region’s shutdown. No announcement has been made on whether the federal government will be open Monday. D. C. government will be closed.
In Maryland, the University of Maryland is closed Monday, as well as public schools in Frederick, Anne Arundel, and Howard counties. The last of the snow fell in the region around 11:45 p.m. Saturday. Totals ranged from 10 inches to 35 inches and more, with the heaviest accumulation to the north and west of the city, outside the Capital Beltway. The National Zoo in Northwest Washington got 22.4 inches, Hyattsville, in Prince George’s County got 25 inches, 30 inches fell in Manassas, and Round Hill, in Loudoun County, got three feet.
But first comes the big dig, and much hard work. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) asked people to be patient, saying “getting back to business as usual will take time.”
Washington officials said they will begin “aggressively” ticketing and towing residents who get stuck on public roads. Gregory Johnson of the Maryland State Highway Administration said the state’s primary roadways will be cleared by Monday morning. The secondary roads will still be snow-covered “with a lot of work to be done.”
Such a ticket could cost as much as $750, said D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier. She also warned that residents could face fines for walking in public streets. “I’m pleased with the progress that we’ve made,” said Hogan, reiterating his appeal for drivers to stay of the roads. “We’ve been lucky with no fatalities. We want to keep it that way.”
“We need to get D.C. back,” Bowser said. “And first of all we need you to keep not only your vehicles off the streets, we need you to keep yourselves off the streets as well.” Virginia Gov. Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) and state Transportation Secretary Aubrey Layne toured the hardest hit areas by helicopter Sunday. McAuliffe said Saturday that snow removal cost the commonwealth $2 million to !3 million per hour.
The blizzard brought Washington and its suburbs to a standstill, with all but a few major highways made impassable by more than two feet of snow. “It’s going to be one of the largest snow removal efforts that we’ve had in Northern Virginia – one of the most expensive – because some of it’s so high,” Layne said. “It’s a lot of snow. It’s just a heck of a lot of snow.”
The winds that spared the region for the storm’s first 24 hours arrived at gale strength Saturday afternoon, pushing snow back onto the few cleared roads and sidewalks and threatening to take down power lines that serve 6 million people. But there were relatively few power outages. Local utilities were reporting only a handful Sunday morning. [What will be closed on Monday]
The last of the snow fell in the region around 11:45 p.m. Saturday. Snowfall totals ranged from 10 to 35 inches and more, with the heaviest accumulation to the north and west of the city, outside the Capital Beltway. GIn the District, police said they would ticket and tow cars of drivers who venture out and get stuck.
“If you come out, you get yourself stuck on one of our streets, I have to tell you: we will aggressively ticket you, and tow your vehicle,” D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said.
Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said the tickets could cost as much as $750, and she warned that people also could be fined for walking in the street.
“We’re going to have to start stepping up and being a little more aggressive about asking our public not to be out, walking in the streets,” Lanier said.
Metro will open at 7 a.m. with limited service on the Red, Orange and Green lines as follows: the Orange Line will run between Ballston and Eastern Market; the Red Line will run between Medical Center and Union Station; and the Green Line will run between Fort Totten and Anacostia.
Trains will run every 20 to 25 minutes, the agency said. Fares will not be charged.
Buses will run on what Metro is calling “lifeline service” on 22 lines only, from noon to 5 p.m., every half hour.
D.C. officials said there was no telling precisely how long it will take to clear the snow.
“Two feet of snow is a lot to move,” Chris T. Geldart, director of the District’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, said Sunday. “We’re going to be in our response phase for at least 24 to 36 hours, and the recovery phase for much longer than that.”
Authorities in Prince George’s County said nearly 80 percent of the county’s main and secondary roads have been plowed.
“For the next 48 to 72 hours we need you to be patient with us,” County Executive Rushern Baker (D) said. “We need at least 24 hours for us to clear the primary streets and secondary roads before we can into the neighborhoods.”
The county government will be closed Monday.
[D.C. snowfall totals called into question after improper measurement][D.C. snowfall totals called into question after improper measurement]
Shepherdstown, W.Va., on the Potomac River just upstream from Harpers Ferry, got 40 inches, the National Weather Service said. “I know people want to get out of your houses and move around but we need you to stay at home as much as possible,” Baker said.
As most people sought to be rid of the snow, CBS reported that nurses at the National Institutes of Health, in Bethesda, went out into the storm Saturday and brought back tubs of snow for sick children to play with. Alexandria closed its streets to all but emergency vehicles Sunday.
Out on the highways, Interstates 70 in Western Maryland and I-270 were reopening Sunday in stages, according to Charlie Gischlar, a spokesman for the Maryland State Highway Administration. “With about two feet of snow, we have had 50 percent more snow in the past 36 hours than we typically have all winter,” Mayor Allison Silberberg (D) said. “The roads are still treacherous, and the roads will melt a bit each day and then refreeze each night.”
The highways were closed Saturday night after several tractor trailers got stuck on an incline on northbound I-270 near the Montgomery – Frederick County line. Silberberg said Alexandria had cleared virtually all of its primary roads by late Sunday and that crews had shifted to secondary roads. She said residential streets would be tackled Monday or later.
It took crews hours to get to the stuck trucks and tow them in the last heavy bursts of snow from the blizzard. Several cars had been stuck behind the trucks. Montgomery County officials said crews are focusing on plowing primary roads. After that they will move into the 4,000 lane-miles of neighborhood roads, county spokesman Patrick Lacefield said.
Gischlar said that roads elsewhere in Maryland are good and getting better by the hour. But he still urged that motorists stay off the roads. “There is still a lot of work to be done,” he said. “This is our clean-up day. Even though the roadway may look clear, there is still a lot of work to be done. Every hour will be better.” [The power surprisingly stayed on across most of the region]
All airlines have canceled flights and operations are still suspended at Reagan National and Dulles International airports, said Kimberly Gibbs, a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. “Crews are working around the clock, but we are not just having to plow, we are also having to carry away” loads of snow, said Lacefield.
Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport is expecting widespread cancellations, but some flights may get out later Sunday, spokesman Jonathan Dean said. Where to put the more than two feet of snow that accumulated in many areas was a problem for officials, businesses and homeowners alike. In a lighter snow, plowing it or shoveling it aside is relatively easy, but this was too much snow to be shoved to one side.
For Metro, one issue is clearing snow from transit agency’s 130 miles of outdoor tracks, running in two directions. Stessel said several diesel-powered “prime movers,” or large rail cars, have been plowing snow since the storm began Friday night, but “we’ve still got a lot of work to do.” “Where are we going to put it all?” Hampton Inn manager Dorene Sapp said as she looked out from her hotel pavilion just off the Leesburg Pike. “We are hoping for some melting but at this rate, I don’t know where it’s all going to go.”
Hundreds of workers have been removing snow from stations, but some platforms and outdoor escalators remained buried, he said. Just finding a shovel to dig out cars was a problem at the Sheraton and Hyatt parking lots near Dulles International Airport.
Spokesman Stessel said Metro expects to announce its plan for Monday before Mayor Bowser holds a news briefing Sunday at 5. He said Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld will attend that briefing and explain Metro’s status. Scott Morris, a Dulles airport police officer who stayed in a hotel rather than driving home to Shenandoah Valley, was close to digging his car out after a grueling hour. He brought his own shovel, which another guest offered $250 to buy.
Meanwhile, the storm’s death toll increased. “I said ‘At this point pal, there’s not enough money in your pocket to get this from me,’” Morris said.
When Ray Atkins’ neighbor, a tax judge, said he is due tomorrow in court in North Carolina, the neighbors in the 1500 block of Garfield Street in Arlington went to work.
Shovels deployed, six people worked to clear the three-foot-deep snow from the driveway and sidewalks so the judge could get out. But while the judge may be able to leave his driveway now, he’s going nowhere else because the block, just off Wilson Boulevard, is packed deep with snow.
Even before the snowfall began, Ngozi Johnson knew she’d need a strategy to deal with her daughter’s boredom from being stuck indoors. Thinking back to her own childhood -- when she and her siblings would fan out across their neighborhood and help people dig out -- Johnson ran to Lowe’s and bought two shovels. On Sunday afternoon, with D.C. buried under two feet of snow, she, her daughter, 13-year-old Nandi Johnson, and her daughter’s best friend, 12-year-old Wendell Wray, hit the streets
“I thought this would probably be the best time to learn the true value of a dollar,” Ngozi Johnson said.
[Where Snowzilla fits among D.C.’s top 10 snowstorms]
Also recognizing a fresh entrepreneurial opportunity, Noel Lemus, Marcio Cruz and Osmin Fuentes were out at 9 a.m. Sunday morning with snow shovels ready.
“We’ve been doing this for five years,” said Lemus, who said the men worked as electricians but shoveled snow on weekends as a side job.
Lemus said he grew up in El Salvador and then spent 18 years in Southern California before seeing snow for the first time in Washington about six years ago. When asked if he ever thought he’d be shoveling the white stuff, he shrugged.
“It’s just like the work in my home country,” he said.
But it doesn’t snow in El Salvador, he was reminded.
“No, but shoveling the dirt is the same.”
It was shoveling with a deadline for many people, including Brian Boxman of North Potomac.
He also wanted to be done digging out by 2:59 p.m. so he could get settled in front of his big-screen TV for the AFC Championship match between the New England Patriots and the Denver Broncos. His vision of the game, a beer and, maybe, nachos, kept the snow flying.
“I’m under pressure,” he said as game time neared.
Meanwhile, the number of people who died as a result of the storm increased.
A Leesburg man had a heart attack and died early Sunday morning while trudging through waist-deep snow in an attempt to go home after working at a convenience store that had stayed open through the storm, police said.A Leesburg man had a heart attack and died early Sunday morning while trudging through waist-deep snow in an attempt to go home after working at a convenience store that had stayed open through the storm, police said.
The man, whose identity has not been released but was in his 50s, collapsed around 2 a.m., police said. A resident saw him fall into the snow, called 911 and pulled the man inside a nearby home. Emergency responders were unable to revive him.The man, whose identity has not been released but was in his 50s, collapsed around 2 a.m., police said. A resident saw him fall into the snow, called 911 and pulled the man inside a nearby home. Emergency responders were unable to revive him.
“If the gentleman had been walking home on a sunny day, he probably would be alive,” said Leesburg Police Lt. Brian Rourke, attributing the fatality to the snow.“If the gentleman had been walking home on a sunny day, he probably would be alive,” said Leesburg Police Lt. Brian Rourke, attributing the fatality to the snow.
The man had tried to drive home after his shift at the convenience store, located on the 700 block of Fieldstone Drive Northwest, but abandoned his car after it got stuck, and tried to walk the rest of the way home, Rourke said.The man had tried to drive home after his shift at the convenience store, located on the 700 block of Fieldstone Drive Northwest, but abandoned his car after it got stuck, and tried to walk the rest of the way home, Rourke said.
Virginia authorities have attributed at least four other deaths to storm-related causes, and the storm had claimed at least 19 other fatalities nationwide as of Sunday morning.Virginia authorities have attributed at least four other deaths to storm-related causes, and the storm had claimed at least 19 other fatalities nationwide as of Sunday morning.
Other deaths included traffic fatalities, those from heart attacks while shoveling snow and two hypothermia deaths. One shoveling death was that of a 49-year old man from Abingdon, Md., northeast of Baltimore.Other deaths included traffic fatalities, those from heart attacks while shoveling snow and two hypothermia deaths. One shoveling death was that of a 49-year old man from Abingdon, Md., northeast of Baltimore.
Authorities warned that it would take days before all the roads became passable. With Sunday’s sunny forecast, officials feared that people housebound since Friday would be eager to get out.
“Please do not go out and get on the road (Sunday) or Monday,” Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) said Saturday afternoon. “We are working primary roads right now, and then beginning next week, we will get into the secondary roads.”
[Where Snowzilla fits among D.C.’s top 10 snowstorms]
“We want our community to heed our recommendations, our concerns, and get off the road,” Bowser said. “But more than that, we cannot afford to divert our emergency services to police a travel ban.”
Gischlar, the Maryland State Highway Administration spokesman, lambasted SUV owners out on joyrides. “There’s a lot of people in four-wheel drives that are just kind of out cruising around, and they’re getting in the way of snow operations.”
[Sunday’s forecast: Sunny but too cold for much to melt]
But for those who had to be out George Tasiopolous’ 24-hour Amphora Diner was an oasis. It’s never been shuttered since the eatery opened in Herndon, and a crippling snow storm wasn’t going to be the first time.
“Eleven years ago we lost power, but we still kept the doors open. We were serving salads and desserts,” Tasiopolous said Sunday. “We never, never close the door.”
He was operating on a shoe-string staff, with two cooks, two servers and a busser rotating through shifts and sleeping at the hotel across the street.
Police, utility workers, and dozens of others out in the weather sought the solace of Amphora’s pancakes and eggs.
Snow accumulations in many places around D.C. were historic.
The National Zoo in Northwest Washington got 22.4 inches, as of Saturday night.
Hyattsville, in Prince George’s County got 25 inches. Thirty inches fell in Manassas, as of Sunday morning. And Round Hill, in Loudoun County, got three feet.
In Manassas, 67 residents were forced to evacuate their apartments early Sunday after a roof partially collapsed on one building and appeared to be faltering on another.
Prince William Fire and Rescue crews were called to the Coverstone Apartments in the 10900 block of Coverstone Drive at 12:25 a.m., according to Matt Smolsky, the assistant chief.
No one was injured, Smolsky said, but at 3 a.m., workers were still seeking alternative shelter for the residents. He said a buildup of snow on the roofs of the buildings was no doubt a factor in the collapse, if not the cause
The enormousness of the storm will be calculated after it’s all over, when the snowfall totals are collected from the region’s three major airports and other less prestigious sources.
But it certainly will rival the totals from the record for the biggest two-day snowstorm in Washington. That was set Jan. 27-28, 1922, when 26 inches fell. That snowfall collapsed the roof of the Knickerbocker Theatre in Adams Morgan, killing more than 100 people. And this weekend’s snow eclipsed the biggest winter storm of this young century, “Snowmageddon” of Feb. 5-6, 2010, when 17.8 inches fell.
[What will be closed on Monday]
Around 5 p.m. Saturday, Snowzilla officially met the criteria for a blizzard, with three straight hours of wind gusts at more than 35 mph, visibility of a quarter-mile or less, and snow and blowing snow.
The magnitude of the storm, with its delivery of three inches of snow per hour, paralyzed the East Coast from Richmond to New York. Roads and public transit shut down in New York and Washington, and low-lying coastal regions from Cape Hatteras, N.C., to Long Island, N.Y., prepared for flooding Sunday and Monday.
The low-pressure system fueling the snowstorm had generated hurricane-force gusts at sea, and the forecast was for waves as tall as a three-story building.
[The power surprisingly stayed on across most of the region]
The U.S. Postal Service gave up on attempts to deliver the mail Saturday in the Washington region and said carriers would try again Monday. The agency asked homeowners to dig out their mailboxes and clear sidewalks.
State police in Virginia said they responded to 1,100 accidents statewide, the majority of them in Northern Virginia.