Gov: Snow causing "extraordinarily challenging" situation in NOVA
By Dan Roem
Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) is urging Northern Virginians to stay off the roads as much as possible throughout the weekend as VDOT and the Virginia National Guard clean up a potential record amount of snow.
"The obvious challenge is the rate of accumulation is so significant," said McDonnell Saturday during a phone interview with The Times. "What we're asking people to do is stay close to the TV and radio."
He said over 200,000 Virginians are without power, including many in Northern Virginia due to the actual weight of the snow caused by its dampness.
In Southwestern Virginia, ice caused a bulk of power outages, he added.
McDonnell said that Dominion Virginia Power is receiving help from out-of-state crews from across the South, such as Tennessee and Georgia.
"There are a number of states that are helping Dominion right now," he said.
One of the problems with the snow rate is that when crews plow the roads, "within a few hours," the snow is high again, said the governor.
As for the crews themselves, "In some areas, they're doing fine. In other areas, it's been very, very difficult," said the governor.
Locally, snow has not affected Prince William County any differently than the rest of the region, said McDonnell, though the area has "taken a tremendous hit with the storm. It's near record accumulation."
This snow storm, coupled with the December 19 blizzard and smaller storms since has put VDOT "way past" its $80 million statewide snow budget.
"We will not compromise public safety in any way," said McDonnell, though he added that the storm "will cause problems down the road" regarding funding.
Transferring money from the transportation budget for operations and maintenance in order to pay the snow removal contractors is not a problem legally, as "the law is pretty clear that even though we've got a budget that we've planned for in prior years," there is room for emergency snow removal.
McDonnell confirmed Friday's report that VDOT has not attended to any residential roads yet though local jurisdictions may be able to send plows out themselves. Parts of the region have already received about two feet of snow with drifts amounting to 3 to 4 feet.
There have not been "significant" problems for VDOT navigating primary roads so far, "but the storm isn't over yet," said McDonnell. "It's going to be a problem for a number of hours in Northern Virginia."
He added that there will be ice and residue left "for weeks to come" from the storm.
So far, McDonnell has called up about 500 Virginia National Guard troops to assist VDOT and local emergency crews. "Their job is to supplement the work that's being done by everybody from VDOT to local fire and rescue to state police," McDonnell said.
McDonnell deployed the guard on "dozens and dozens of missions" with a majority being sent to Northern Virginia. Among their resources, guardsmen are using 2.5-ton and 5-ton trucks as well as wreckers and Humvees, doing everything from assisting with plowing to picking up emergency workers from their houses and taking them to hospitals.
"When I made the emergency declaration, that allowed all the emergency operation centers to get up and running," said McDonnell. He added though that from what he's heard, "there's been hundreds and hundreds of wrecks around the state."
Overall, "It's extraordinarily challenging to have three storms in a week and four in just a month and a half," said McDonnell, whose dealt with snow every weekend since his inauguration.
While those who need emergency help can still dial 911, McDonnell urged those who need non-emergency assistance to contact the Washington Metropolitian area 211 call center either by dialing 211 or visiting http://www.211metrodc.org/.