Maryland Community Newspapers Online
Prince George's County schools gave students and teachers a head start on winter vacation, school spokesman MosesAlexander Greene said.
"Our main concern is the safety of our walkers," as roads and walkways are expected to remain icy throughout the week, Greene said.
Despite the closures, the county showed signs this week that it was thawing from the weekend blizzard that dumped between 14 and 19 inches of snow across Prince George's.
County public works officials reported Tuesday afternoon that all primary roads in the county were cleared and that about 90 percent of secondary and residential roads were passable. Plows would continue clearing and salting roads in 12-hour shifts until completed.
Because snow fell so fast in the first 24 hours of the storm — at a rate of nearly two inches an hour — county road crews had to plow major streets constantly to keep them open.
The snow lead to a few problems in areas in which it was packed so hard that some plows could not break it up, said county spokeswoman Susan Hubbard. A few equipment failures also lead to snow removal delays in some areas, including Beltsville, Adelphi, Laurel and Glenn Dale, she said.
Now that the snow has started to melt and freeze again in neighborhoods, residential streets must be treated before they can be plowed.
"We weren't able to get to the neighborhood streets as early as we hoped," Keary said. "You just can't plow this with conventional methods."
County fire and EMS officials said icy roads were the cause of several accidents Monday morning as residents returned to work.
"[Monday] morning's incidents included areas that were iced over," said Prince George's County Fire and EMS Department spokesman Mark Brady. "You're going to get the snow melt and then the freezing temperatures [that lead to ice]."
Johnson declared a state of emergency over the weekend to keep vehicles off county roads while crews worked to clear them.
Although the snow accumulated quickly, several factors, including the light weight of the snow, accurate forecasting and a lack of major fire emergencies over the weekend made the storm easier for emergency workers to handle than similar storms that blanketed the county in 1996 and 2003, Brady said.
"It appears our citizens were more prepared," he added. "The department as a whole ... is extremely pleased with the way that this went."
While fire officials usually receive about 375 calls daily, they received 460 calls Saturday and 413 calls Sunday — a number that Brady called slightly high but manageable.
Officials also warned drivers to watch for pedestrians who are walking in the road in areas where sidewalks have not been cleared. Brady advised that pedestrians should use the roads only as a last resort, but if traversing roads should wear light or reflective clothing to make themselves more visible to drivers.
Getting around also was made easier Monday with the reopening of above-ground Metro stations. All tracks at above-ground stations, except for a few on the west side of the Red Line, had been closed on Saturday afternoon and Sunday due to the accumulation of snow on the tracks.
Officials at the county Department of Environmental Resources said that while trash and recycling pick up was hit or miss Monday, regular pickups were expected to resume Tuesday. Anyone who missed a pickup should wait for their next regularly scheduled pickup to put out trash.
Weekend classes at colleges and other events over the weekend were cancelled.
In the city of Bowie, where public works crews were clearing 185 miles of city streets, plows had made it through every street at least once by Monday but still were working to clear streets as some parked cars had blocked earlier efforts.
"They are salting and will keep salting into the evening," city spokeswoman Una Cooper said Monday. "We are just going to have keep dealing with the melting and refreezing."
Robert Stumpff, College Park's director of public works, said city crews worked continuously from Friday night to Sunday night salting and plowing all 55 miles of the city's streets, although roadside parking made many of the streets impossible to plow entirely. Stumpff said crews were still plowing Tuesday.
Albert Epshteyn, a College Park resident and federal employee, had Monday off and used the day to venture out of his home for the first time since Friday. While major county-owned roads, such as Routes 1 and 193 were relatively clear, his city-owned street still needed some work Monday, he said.
"It has quite a lot of ice on it still," said Epshteyn, adding that motorists seemed to be taking the conditions in stride. "Everybody is driving relatively slowly and carefully."
After closing Saturday, Bob Thompson, the owner of Old Bowie Town Grille in Bowie, said the surrounding streets were clear Sunday and that he opened his restaurant with a skeleton crew of those able to make it in. Though business was slower than usual, Thompson said the customers who made it in were appreciative.
"A lot of people were worn out from digging out but those who came in were glad to get out of the house," he said.
Staff Writers Andrea Noble, David Hill, Daniel Valentine and Megan McKeever contributed to this report.
