Are Terrorists Behind the Crippling Snow Storm that Paralyzed Washington DC?
On the same day AP reports “Homeland Security will replace terror warning system” the Washington DC area is into Hour 15 of Terror Threat Level WHITE.
Background
The DC area quickly panics with the hint of snow. Weather-guessers predicted an afternoon storm delivering 1-4 inches.
While the streets were pre-treated, a morning rainstorm washed away the chemicals
With a updated prediction of an afternoon snow storm dumping up to eight inches of snow at 1 to 2 inches per hour, the federal government authorized an early release of employees.
- Rush hour started about 3 pm
- The heavy sleet started about 3:30 pm
- The snow started about 4 pm
The heavy, damp snow brought down tree limbs and power lines. Some drivers could not handle the ice and slush and ran off the road or blocked a road, including buses.
Like New York City, the city did not declare a snow emergency.
Read Steve Hendrix’s Washington Post article: Snow emergency not declared in D.C.
Millicent West, DC’s homeland security and emergency management agency director, explained that a snow emergency isn’t called unless six inches are expected. “We’re all struggling with the sheet of ice under the two inches of snow,” West said Wednesday night.
GRIDLOCK BEGINS AT 4:30 PM
Those on The George Washington Parkway ground to a halt around 4:30 pm, stopped by crashing tree limbs and cars stuck on hills.
They do not get off the parkway until 14 hours later, some are still trapped as this item is published.
For many, it took four to eight hours to travel a couple of miles. Within the city traffic leaving for Virginia was jammed from 3:30 pm to midnight. In the northern Virginia suburbs, some were in jams until 2 am.
A reporter driving into DC this morning counted over 75 abandoned vehicles on a major east-west highway.
What happens when we need to evacuate the city?
I have a mid 1950′s map of the Washington DC evacuation plan. A flaw in the plan then was that those working on the west side of the city will probably drive east if they (or their kids) live in Maryland.
All of the designated evacuation routes north and west of the city were gridlocked last night – two inches of snow over a sheet of ice.
Mike “FossilMedic” Ward
Also on FireGeezer…
- Participate in the Safer Ambulance Survey – November 28, 2011
Recent Comments