It shall be called, "Snowtorious B.I.G"

[AGDee]

I think the problem with these huge snowfalls in DC is that they don't have the equipment to deal with it. For them to get two 20" snow falls in the course of a week is a "100 year" event. I don't think they have the kinds of plowing equipment and staff that we have here in Detroit. Some jobs don't allow you to stay home (when I worked in the hospital, for example) so you have to get through it somehow, getting stuck often, etc. People don't know how to drive in it because they don't have that experience. Shoot, even here, when it was snowing to beat the band last night on my drive home, people were driving way too fast and spinning out all over the place. White knuckling it, watching others spinning out and trying to avoid them for two hours is stressful.

Two 20" snow falls in that short a time period would really hurt us, in even in the Detroit area. When we had 30" fall in 48 hours time in 1999, some streets in the city proper weren't plowed for two weeks. They didn't deliver mail in all that time.

You also have power, cable and phone outages at a time when it's really cold. Then pipes burst, etc. I don't know that their roofs are built to handle the weight of that kind of snow either! Their trees aren't used to it either so their branches don't hold up the same way that trees in the north do. It's a very unusual event for them. For the people in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, it's business as usual under those conditions!

[honeychile]

You know that the feral cats are starving when they can walk on top of roughly 28" of snow! There are tiny little paw prints on top of the one corner. That, and they yell at you - Miaow! I think that means, "I'm going to get into that house if I have to break a window!" in cat. They did like having their kibble microwaved, though.

I'm just sick to death of it. I expect this in other places, but not here. I can't even get to my own house to get the mail.

[knight_shadow]

Students displaced due to potential roof collapse at TKE house

Residents in the Tau Kappa Epsilon house have been displaced, after the roof of their townhouse on 22nd street showed early warning signs of collapse, a University spokeswoman said Wednesday.

“A resident of the TKE townhouse noticed the roof collapsing and called 911,” said University spokeswoman Michelle Sherrard in an e-mail. “MPD determined the house was unsafe and needed to be evacuated.”

Sherrard said the four residents of the townhouse have been relocated to Guthridge Hall and that GW Facilities Management and the University Police Department conducted additional safety sweeps of the properties at 619 and 617 22nd Streets and determined they were safe.

Pete Piringer, public information officer for the D.C. Fire Department, said the TKE house was marked as unsafe to occupy after the Fire Department on scene said the roof had been compromised and appeared to be in danger of collapse.


http://blogs.gwhatchet.com/newsroom/...-at-tke-house/

[Munchkin03]

Everyone's been hysterical. OMGWTFSNOOOOOOOOOOW!

I'm at work. I've been at work since 8:40 this morning. No early dismissal; the people who couldn't get in (the commuter rails are closing early tonight and buses are cancelled) took PTO or vacation time. The snow is coming down pretty steadily and has been since 8 last night.

My father called me several times this morning. He was surprised when I told him that I was at work and didn't intend on leaving until 5:30. I'm trying to finagle an invite to the boyfriend's house for the overnight. He (my father) didn't like the idea of that. LOL.

I'm just annoyed that I can't run.