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Although salt and Monday's sunshine helped melt some of the nearly 30 inches of snow that fell in Prince George's County on Friday and Saturday, county officials and residents are bracing for another foot of snow expected to begin falling Tuesday afternoon.
AccuWeather meteorologists said Tuesday that 10 to 20 inches of snow are expected to begin falling by 3 p.m. Tuesday, worsen after midnight and should taper off around 2 p.m. Wednesday. Once the snow stops falling, the wind is expected to pick up, and blowing and drifting snow is likely.
While the record snowfall has meant an easy week for many — county public schools and the federal government were closed Monday and Tuesday — hundreds of state, county and municipal workers have been working overtime since Friday afternoon to clear roads, repair electrical outages and manage problems that cropped up from wet, heavy snow, and lots of it.
David Buck, a spokesman for the State Highway Administration, said Monday that plow drivers have worked around the clock across the state since Friday, some up to 60 hours.
"Just as this storm is measured in feet, the response is going to be measured in days, not hours," Buck said. "Imagine how long it takes people — two to three hours — to get their car out. It's a slow process but a very important process."
Buck said the cleanup from the weekend snowstorm won't be complete when the predicted snow moves into the area Tuesday afternoon. Crews are dumping snow on state-owned property, like salt yards.
"It's one big snowstorm — this is unprecedented," Buck said. "Once you get above a certain amount, it's laughable. It's so disturbingly high, it's just unbelievable."
Susan Hubbard, a spokesman for the county's Department of Public Works and Transportation, said Tuesday morning road conditions in the county are improving.
"The primary roadways are 100 percent passable, 45 percent of residential roadways are passable. We are just now able to focus on residential roadways," Hubbard said Monday afternoon.
Hubbard said Tuesday local states of emergency are still in effect, and the department urges residents to stay off the roads while plow drivers continue to work. She said crews have been working around the clock since 1 p.m. Friday afternoon.
"We are in the neighborhoods now and are trying to make them passable, but there isn't bare pavement, they're not totally cleared," Hubbard said. "We're doing well. We're still pushing, we're still plowing."
Hubbard said the department is ready for the mid-week snow — alternate crews are scheduled, and additional salt and snow plows are ready.
"We're just going to continue to do what we do right now," Hubbard said.
In addition to creating long hours for crews and inconveniencing residents, the heavy snowfall is likely to linger not just on roads, but also in the county's budget.
As of Dec. 25, the county had already spent the $2.6 million it budgeted for snow removal for the fiscal year ending in June. Hubbard said Monday although she could not confirm how much additional money the county has spent on snow removal since December, the department has spent close to an additional $2 million on salt.
"We're doing what we need to do, we'll provide the services," Hubbard said. "It's up to the County Council and the county executive on how to make the budget hold up for the later part of the fiscal year. They know we have to."
County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) said Monday while he doesn't know where the additional funds will come from, "the money will come from somewhere."
"Right now I'm not thinking about the money. I'm thinking about getting our citizens out of their communities," Johnson said. "In a week or two, after it's all over, we'll see how much it costs. The concern is getting the roads clear. Number one is for public safety."
At Doctors Community Hospital in Lanham, spokesman Scott Gregerson said nearly 10 hospital staff members and volunteers have been picking up doctors and nurses from their homes and bringing them into the hospital since Friday.
"It is a challenge," Gregerson said.
Some hospital employees worked Friday morning to Monday afternoon and should expect to work from Tuesday through Thursday because of the next snowstorm, Gregerson said.
Gregerson estimates nearly 1,000 doctors and nurses have been brought into work between Friday and Monday.
Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission utility technician Marcus Harley, 40, of Greenbelt worked nonstop Friday morning through Monday afternoon to fix water main breaks.
"[It's] hectic — you manage to get through it," said Harley, a WSSC employee for nearly 14 years in Hyattsville and Bladensburg.
Harley said he worked for 13 hour shifts and only slept for four hours at a time between Friday morning and Monday afternoon.
"Getting through the street to get to the water main — [it's] real bad. The side streets are bad. We can't get the trucks back there unless we use a backhoe."
Kira Calm Lewis, a WSSC spokeswoman, said 26 water main breaks occurred in Prince George's and Montgomery counties between Friday afternoon and Tuesday morning, a low number compared with 386 breaks that occurred in the two counties throughout January, although she could not confirm the locations of the breaks.
Jim Neustadt, a spokesman for the WSSC, said only essential personnel are working in the water plants, waste water treatment plants, water filtration plants and emergency call center.
"We're still out there today making repairs and doing inspections to keep the system up and running," Neustadt said. "Our crews are still out there in the snow."
Pepco and BGE workers also have been busy since Friday working to restore power after snow-downed wires meant no electricity for thousands of county residents, and crews are preparing for more possible problems after Tuesday's storm.
Pepco officials estimated Tuesday morning that about 197 customers are still without power, after that number peaked at about 10,000 Saturday. BGE estimated that 49 customers are still without power but are expected to have power restored by Tuesday afternoon.
"We do expect that the snow that is forecasted will affect outages, but we're not sure how it will," said Pepco spokesman Andre Francis. "You really never know, but we are prepared for it."
Linda Foy, a spokeswoman for BGE, said Monday approximately 12,000 customers in the county have already had their power restored.
Both Pepco and BGE have crews working around the clock until power is restored.
Pepco customers who experience power outages should call 877-737-2662. BGE customers should call 877-778-2222.
Customers having problems with water service should call WSSC's Emergency Call Center at 301-206-4002.
E-mail Liz Skalski at eskalski@gazette.net.
