Here’s a snippet of conversation heard outside as I checked my bags at the Fort Lauderdale airport and got ready for my flight back to San Diego. “Hey…I heard the planes aren’t coming out of New Yo.rk.” “They did that last night.” “I heard planes to Washington aren’t getting out, either…” The blizzard battering America’s Northeast is big news here — and it has thrown America’s flight system into disarray.
Here’s one report:
There have been car accidents:
Raw video of storm in DC:
And in NYC:
The blizzard has crippled the federal government (that is, more than usual):
Another major snowstorm is battering the northeastern United States, forcing the U.S. government to close for a third consecutive day. Closing federal government offices can cost $100 million a day in lost productivity.
The National Weather Service issued a blizzard watch for residents in the Washington area, warning them not to drive, reporting “life-threatening” conditions.
Some essential federal employees have been staying on the job since Monday. Others find it difficult to make it to their offices as many roads in the nation’s capital and surrounding areas are still unplowed.
Maryland, Virginia and the Washington, D.C., have already exceeded their annual budgets for snow removal since last month’s record storm, which dropped more than 60 centimeters of snow in some areas.
Some hospitals canceled nonessential surgeries and procedures. Others appealed to residents with 4-wheel-drive vehicles to help pick up doctors and nurses and drive them to work.
The storm prompted airport closures in Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and Washington. Thousands of homes throughout the region are still without power, and the roofs of some houses have collapsed due to the weight of the snow.
It has caused a delay in the release of the monthly budget statement:
The U.S. Treasury Department said it is delaying release of its monthly budget statement because of a blizzard in the Washington area.
The statement for January was scheduled for release Wednesday. The Treasury said the statement would be released after the federal government resumes normal operations.
It cited “extreme weather conditions in the Washington metropolitan area.”
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.