Snowmaggedon Continues, County Braces
Pepco Prepares with Outage Line At 1-877-PEPCO-62 While Leaders, Neighbors
Work Together to Fight Storm Aftermath
When it rains, it pours. But this is another matter entirely.
As the region struggles to recover from round one of a spectacular, historic blizzard that saw snow totals reach 30 inches and beyond, the area is bracing for another round with estimates of up to 20 inches of snow beginning midday Tuesday.
Snowbound car.
Roads remain treacherous for driving and even walking has been grueling: one College Park writer likened it to ‘a turtle swimming in peanut butter.’ For several hundred motorists who refused to stay off the roads, local highways and streets claimed their vehicles the way the sea claimed ships and their crews in maritime disasters of old.
It’s been a rough week and it’s only Tuesday.
For now, schools in Prince George’s, the District, and throughout the region will stay shuttered. Travel remains a challenge in many areas as major arteries are passable, but side streets are still coated with a snowy-icy-slushy mix not likely to be resolved especially soon.
Public transit options are still compromised as Metro rail has limited service with underground stations only, and many bus routes have yet to return to normal.
The weekend storm knocked out power to at least 200,000 people across the region and the latest snow threat has renewed the potential for more outages. As of Monday, Pepco said more than 190,000 customers had their power restored. The company has also received reports of more than 1,000 felled power lines in the aftermath of the weekend storm.
Pepco estimates that power has been restored to most customers in Prince George’s and the District, and had expected the remainder to be back in service by Wednesday morning.
“The road conditions have made the assessment of damage and the restoration of electric service challenging, but we continue to make progress in our effort to restore service to customers affected by this weekend's powerful winter storm,” said Thomas Graham, president, Pepco Region, in a recent statement. “Crews will be working around the clock until all customers are restored.”
The company said that due to changing conditions, estimates on when power will be restored may change. Pepco urges customers to call the Pepco outage line at 1-877-PEPCO-62 for any updates with regards to their specific outage.
Rushern Baker and a colleague work with other volunteers to aid in Big Dig effort.
For customers without power, Pepco urges customers to unplug or turn off all appliances that will come on when the power is restored since they overload circuits and cause an unnecessary outage. The company also suggests customers leave a lamp switched on so they will know when their power has been safely restored.
Some weather models suggest the storm will strike in the early afternoon and grow stronger during the evening hours into Wednesday. While similar to the last bout, this time expect high winds and more power outages.
Meanwhile, residents around the county draw upon resources closer to home to get through the crisis. “We can’t get out of the house but we can get to know our neighbors again,” says one Clinton resident. “People help out more when things like this happen.”
Not all are in the neighborly way.
Some motorists, struggling to dig out of the snow, are less considerate of their neighbors.
“The snow wars have begun,” wrote one Prince Georgian on her Facebook page of two men who nearly went to blows because one was piling snow from his car onto the other’s. “Some people just have no sense. How can they be so simple?”
But it’s the simple things that matter most in tough times. In Oxon Hill, one ad-hoc crew of men gathered and dug out cars, drive ways and doorsteps of all the elderly and single-parented homeowners on the street February 8. Shovels in hand, they swooped onto the street like a warm breeze on the winter afternoon, liberating home after home from winter’s grip. Some of the vehicles actually looked polished when they were done.
They weren’t the only ones. In an effort to assist overtaxed county resources, the Rushern Baker campaign for Prince George’s County Executive is marshalling volunteers to dig out senior citizens and those with medical limitations.
On Monday afternoon, a team of volunteers harnessed by the campaign were busy at work in Capitol Heights, Landover, and Bowie helping to shovel folks out. Campaign spokesman James Adams said about 100 people were serviced and the effort will continue as long as people show interesting in lending a hand.
The campaign said the Prince George’s County Firefighters and EMS Union has also offered to help. The campaign is seeking anyone in good health with a plow, snow blower, four wheel drive vehicle, or just time and a shovel. Those interested should contact the Rushern Baker campaign at Bigdig@rushernbaker.com.
--PGS Staff
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