By Ashley Halsey III and Martin Weil
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, February 6, 2010; 9:34 AM
The full weight of winter brought life in much of the Washington region to a standstill Saturday as a storm predicted to be one of the most powerful on record dumped 12 to 21 inches of snow overnight.
Police reported two fatalities -- a father and son hit by a tractor-trailer in Virginia when they stopped to help a stranded motorist -- and with the snowfall expected to outpace plows' ability to clear it, officials pleaded with people to stay off the roads until conditions improve.
People were confined to their homes by the mountains of snow, many in the dark as trees brought down power lines. Montgomery County, and Potomac in particular, seemed to be the hardest hit.
Pepco reported 89,094 customers without electricity, the largest cluster in the Potomac area of Montgomery County. BGE had 30,356 customers without power; 8,000 in Anne Arundel, 2,400 in Howard County and 4,800 in Prince George's. Dominion had 71,000 customers without power, nearly 58,000 in Northern Virginia.
Transportation agencies struggled to keep up, the job made even more difficult by trees felled by high winds and the weight of the accumulating snow.
Metro, the transportation lifeline for hundreds of thousands of people, opened at 7 a.m. Saturday, but service was available only to underground portions of its system. Trains were running on 30-minute intervals. Metrobus and suburban transit services ceased operations and officials warned residents there would be no public transportation for the day.
Flight operations at Reagan National Airport were suspended for the day and only a smattering of international flights were expected at Dulles, according to Tara Hamilton, a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport reported most flights were canceled.
And though the Postal Service creed may be "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds," the agency suspended service across the Washington region on Saturday, surrendering to one of the largest snowfalls in the region's history.
"No delivery, no retail, no collections due to the storm and for the safety of our customers and employees," said Postal Service spokeswoman Deborah Yackley.
The decision impacts mail service in all of the District, Maryland and the northern and western parts of Virginia south to Fredericksburg.
There was one message for the residents of Washington:
"Stay in unless you absolutely have to be out," said John Lisle of the District Department of Transportation. A winter storm warning blanketed most of the region until 10 p.m. Saturday, and a blizzard warning covered the District and areas to the east.
"This extremely dangerous storm is expected to produce record snowfall for the Washington metropolitan area," the National Weather Service said. It warned that travel conditions would be "extremely hazardous and life-threatening, and all citizens are urged to remain indoors."
Forecasters with The Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang estimated that another five to eight inches of snow would fall across the region Saturday. They estimated the area was two-thirds of the way through the storm, predicting that the snow would taper off in mid- to late afternoon.
Power lines weakenThe big blow rolled in with a different attitude than the two major storms of the season that preceded it. This time, higher temperatures made for a wet and heavy snow that weighed down trees and overhead lines. Even before nightfall, the maps that track power outages in Virginia, Maryland and the District began to register the toll. Trees were also toppled in southwestern Virginia.
On Friday night, one island of public life was Verizon Center, where the Washington Capitals extended their winning streak to 13 games with a victory over the Atlanta Thrashers. An announcement of the Metrorail service changes was made at the game.
The Caps hope to take the ice at Verizon again at noon Sunday. Between those games, the hardwood was to be put down for a pair of basketball games Saturday.
Georgetown vowed that its noon game with No. 2-ranked Villanova, for which 20,000 tickets had been sold, would be played as scheduled.
"We are asking people not to attempt to drive but to take Metro," said Georgetown spokesman Mike "Mex" Carey.
The Washington Wizards are scheduled to take the floor Saturday night against the Atlanta Hawks.
An unscheduled form of public athletic activity took place Friday night in many parts of the area as impromptu snowball fights broke out. The wet snow was easily formed into snowballs to the delight of many. Many people planned snowball fights for Saturday, using Twitter and Facebook to assemble teams, spreading the word to gather at Dupont Circle, on the Ellipse and on the Mall.
'The city was empty'
The region's largest employer, the federal government, allowed workers to take unscheduled leave Friday but opened its doors to anyone who chose to work. But those who did were sent home early.
"My goal was to have the city essentially evacuated by 2 p.m., and I was watching carefully and I walked home at 3:30 p.m. to verify for myself, and basically the city was empty," said John Berry, director of the Office of Personnel Management.
Berry, who decides when to open or close D.C. area federal offices, said he hoped to reach a conclusion before Sunday's Super Bowl kickoff about whether to open offices.
Officials estimate that closing Washington area federal offices costs taxpayers $100 million in lost operation and opportunity costs, part of the reason Berry decided to keep federal offices open Friday with the unscheduled leave policy and an early dismissal.
"I'm sure there would have been taxpayers concerned that we closed offices when there wasn't any snow on the ground," he said. "That said, we wanted to ensure the safety of our employees."
The storm's intensity seemed to increase as darkness fell Friday. It was no longer the fluffy stuff that had floated to the ground earlier. It was falling hard, in a southwestern slant.
And it had bite. Accidents were on the rise on Virginia and Maryland roads as temperatures dropped and snow piled up. Disabled vehicles littered the roadways, and I-66 eastbound near Front Royal was shut down by multiple crashes. A jackknifed tractor-trailer blocked much of U.S. 50 just east of I-95 in Prince George's County.
Maryland State Police troopers were north of Aberdeen at an accident in which two adults and three children in a van had run into the back of a snowplow on Route 426 at Interstate 95. Troopers did not yet know the extent of injuries but said that it appeared serious, said state police spokesman Greg Shipley. The plow was operated by a contractor for the Maryland Highway Administration, he said.
By late Friday, Virginia State Police said they responded to more than 1,000 crashes. They also were called to help with hundreds of disabled vehicles.
In the District, the Third Street Tunnel was shut down about 7:30 p.m. after the bed of a contract dump truck struck the tunnel roof near New York Avenue NW. No injuries were reported, but officials closed the road while they removed loads of salt and debris. The tunnel reopened about 10 p.m.
Many businesses in the region gave up hope of opening Saturday morning.
At Eastern Market in the District, management told store owners not to open, citing safety concerns.
About 4 p.m. Friday at the Giant grocery store on Connecticut Avenue in Van Ness, a steady stream of customers continued to pick over thinly stocked shelves.
A line of more than 30 customers snaked through Blockbuster Video in Upper Marlboro as residents tried to stock up on entertainment for what promised to be a long, snowed-in weekend.
"If I'm gonna get snowed in, at least [I'll] have a couple good movies. . . . Otherwise I wouldn't be standing in this long line."