Click photo to enlarge
Pedestrians walk along Wisconsin Avenue in the Georgetown
neighbourhood of Washington as an intense snowfall
blanketed the nation's capital and much of the Mid Atlantic
region. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Mid-Atlantic residents were buried today from a
likely record-setting blizzard the US president jokingly called
"Snowmageddon," and those brave enough tried to clear a path
through the wet, heavy mounds of thigh-high snow.
The snow was falling too quickly in the nation's capital for
crews to keep up, and officials begged residents to stay home
and out of the way so that roads might be cleared in time for
everyone to return to work on Monday.
The usually traffic-snarled roads were mostly barren, and
Washington's familiar sites and monuments were covered with
nearly 60cm of snow.
Tihana and Jarrett Blanc had given up on digging, instead
taking their dog, Hector, for a walk through northwest
Washington during what forecasters said could be the biggest
storm for the nation's capital in modern history.
"Our car is stuck. We're not even trying," said Tihana, 36.
The storm toppled trees and knocked out power to hundreds of
thousands of customers in Washington, Virginia, Maryland,
Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The situation was the
same in West Virginia, where some 400 National Guard troops
were helping with snow removal.
Though the focal point remained the nation's capital, people
from Pittsburgh, across Pennsylvania to Philadelphia, New
Jersey and West Virginia were dealing with snow being
measured in feet instead of inches. It was still snowing on
Saturday in Philadelphia, virtually shutting down the
nation's sixth-largest city.
Walt Gursky, 28, braved the roads to go to the Philadelphia
International Auto Show at the Pennsylvania Convention Centre
downtown. The event was a ghost town.
"Last year when I came, there was a line getting in," Gursky
said in the normally mobbed facility. "Much more relaxing in
here - you can actually see what you want."
Hundreds of car wrecks were reported across the region,
though only two deaths were reported - a father and son who
died while helping another motorist in Virginia. By Saturday,
most people couldn't drive anywhere because their cars and
roads were buried.
In Ellicott City, Christine Benkoski said she was trying to
dig out from at least 60cm. As she tried to clear her
driveway, she said she uncovered how the storm had
transitioned from snow, to ice, then back to snow.
"I feel like an archaeologist," Benkoski said.
"I've been out here for an hour, and my only goal is to get
to the street."
