Traumatic tales of epic commutes and overwhelmed emergency services left Washingtonians on Thursday with one humbling realization: Mother Nature won. “We rose to historic levels responding to all of the calls out there, but of course we couldn’t respond to every call,” said Lucille Baur, spokeswoman for the Montgomery County police.
Calls to the county’s 911 center were at times met with busy signals, Baur said. The county is investigating whether that’s because its system lacks the capacity to handle the volume of calls or if a partial disruption of Verizon cellular phone service was to blame. Despite the disruptions, calls to 911 increased 134 percent over their typical level in a 24-hour period, she said.
Fairfax County reported no disruption to its 911 lines despite a dramatic increase in the number of calls, though county police had trouble responding.
“Primarily, our officers were in cars, just like everyone else out there on the roads,” said Fairfax police spokeswoman Lucy Caldwell. “They did the very best they could under extremely difficult conditions. Mother Nature had the upper hand.”
Throughout the District and its suburbs, power outages cut off traffic signals at hundreds of intersections even as traffic police were occupied with snow removal and more pressing emergencies.
“The traffic control officers who typically work the intersections were in plows,” said Terry Bellamy, interim director of D.C.’s Department of Transportation. “When we have full deployment, everyone gets in a truck.”
Fairfax County Supervisor John Foust received a complaint about similar traffic light problems in his northernmost Dranesville District.
“But most people stuck in traffic weren’t able to contact us to complain,” Foust said, alluding to power outages and spotty phone service.
Compared with last year’s Snowmageddon, the Virginia Department of Transportation plow teams performed admirably, Foust said.
“I was one of [the department’s] biggest critics last year, but this year they’ve done a great job,” he said.
Residents who escaped Wednesday night unscathed walked to work or traveled door to door via Metro — Metrorail, that is. While trains ran relatively smoothly, buses faced the same traffic disaster as cars and 70 got stuck in the snow and ice.
“From a rider’s point of view, it was not great,” said Metro CEO Richard Sarles. “But it was a lot better than being on the road.”
