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Federal agencies to close Monday after blizzard
2010-02-07
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The federal government announced it would remain closed on Monday and most schools planned to shut down as residents of the mid-Atlantic struggled to dig out from a blizzard that dumped two feet of snow on the region. As officials worked to clear snow-covered streets, weather forecasters warned another storm would arrive by Tuesday, bringing as much as 12 more inches of snow to the mid-Atlantic region between Washington and New York. 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 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 by Monday morning. 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 before mid-morning on Monday, their websites 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 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 of snow had fallen in suburban Washington in the biggest snowfall to hit the city in decades. (Reporting by Paul Eckert and David Alexander)
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