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US federal agencies closed due to blizzard
The worst winter storm to hit the Washington area in decades shut down the area’s three major airports for much of the day on Sunday. Bus service was halted and the region’s subway ran trains only on the underground portion of the system.
The US government’s Office of Personnel Management said on Sunday that federal agencies in the Washington area would remain closed on Monday. Only employees involved in emergency services were expected to report for duty, an agency phone recording said.
More than 100,000 homes lost power in the Washington area, according to local television, after the snow felled trees, and brought down power lines. The Pepco electric company said 64,000 customers were without power, and the Dominion power company reported another 29,000 households without service.
Pepco said most of those without electricity in Washington and neighboring Prince George County, Maryland, should have power later on Monday. But homes without power in Montgomery County, Maryland, might not get it back until Tuesday night.
Baltimore-Washington International Airport re-opened one runway at 5 p.m. but commercial flight activity was expected to be limited, the airport said on its website.
Washington Dulles International Airport reported its airfield was open for limited operations, but Washington Reagan National Airport was not expected to re-open until later on Monday, their Web sites said.
Many schools announced that classes were canceled through Tuesday and authorities warned people to stay off roads that remained barely passable.
Snowfall totals of 20 to 38 inches (51 to 99 centimeters) blanketed a wide arch from West Virginia to southern New Jersey by early Saturday evening when the flakes stopped falling after more than 24 hours.
Winter sunshine bathed the nation’s capital, where pedestrians outnumbered cars on deserted and mostly unplowed streets. Up to 32 inches (81 centimeters) of snow had fallen in suburban Washington in the biggest snowfall to hit the city in decades.
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