DC officials respond to winter storm

AccuWeather

Justin Brown from the Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency shares how the capital is being affected by the recent snow and what help they are providing.

Transcript

00:00The snow in the nation's capitol has already closed schools and impacted this morning's

00:05commute.

00:06Justin Brown is the deputy director of the D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management

00:10Agency.

00:11Thank you so much for joining us this morning.

00:13So can you update us?

00:14What's the latest?

00:15How are some of those overnight and early morning conditions impacting the capitol?

00:19Yeah, absolutely.

00:20Thanks for having me.

00:22So our teams have been out all night.

00:24As you know, Mayor Bowser activated our snow emergency and our snow team on Tuesday.

00:29Those teams have been out all night with a complement of about 250 light and heavy plows,

00:35pushing the snow, salting, pushing the snow, salting, as well as our teams that are out

00:40sort of covering critical facilities like schools, police stations, fire stations.

00:44They've been keeping up with the snow as best as possible.

00:46I think that work has paid off.

00:49A lot of our commutes in so far have been on bare pavement, still a lot of wet, slushy

00:53snow, particularly in the medians and along the sides of the road.

00:57But like I said, that work has paid off and we've been keeping on top of it.

01:01Yeah, we have reporters on the field in Washington, D.C., and they're all reporting that roads

01:05are mostly wet.

01:07With the storm yesterday, what was the biggest challenge, you think, for you and your teams

01:12to stay ahead of it?

01:13Well, we have great partners at the National Weather Service, but one of the biggest challenges

01:17is always just watching that forecast, waiting for the latest model, reassessing what's happening.

01:22We had a 10 percent chance of the storm overperforming on the front end.

01:25It did do that a little bit.

01:27So we had some heavier, dense snow right up front and we were hoping for a little bit

01:31more of a slow lead in.

01:34But watching that storm and measuring that, keeping our leadership up to date and helping

01:38provide support to our agencies that are doing the clearing of the snow is always really

01:43our biggest challenge.

01:44Well, as we mentioned, you know, right on the heels of this, another storm moving on

01:47through.

01:48While this may not bring all the snow, still some ice and rain.

01:50So what are you guys planning for later today into Thursday?

01:54Sure.

01:56So our teams from our Department of Public Works and Transportation are out there.

02:01Incredible partners, the men and women out there have been doing an incredible job keeping

02:04things clear.

02:05They're going to stay out there to monitor, make sure that there's no icy spots, be able

02:09to clear areas where there's still snow buildup.

02:12But we are hoping that that rain and those warmer temperatures over the next 24 hours

02:16will help wash away from some of that snow and do some of that work for us.

02:20And as for the residents of Washington, D.C., what do you want to tell them as far as what

02:24can they do to help you?

02:26Absolutely.

02:27Well, safety is always first and foremost for us.

02:29So we always ask folks to make sure that they check in on their neighbors, check in on vulnerable

02:34residents, seniors, folks that may have access and functional needs, make sure that folks

02:39who need help getting in and out of their homes or clearing the areas in front of their

02:43homes or their businesses, that they're able to do that.

02:46Neighbors helping neighbors.

02:47This is Washington, D.C.

02:48That's what we do.

02:49We ask folks to keep doing that.

02:51We do ask folks to comply with the snow emergency order, which helps keep vehicles off of the

02:59key roadways and our emergency routes.

03:02That helps the Department of Public Works clear that snow curb to curb and allows us

03:07to get in and really move the snow fully off those roadways.

03:11So that's really important to keep those vehicles off the street.

03:14And as usual, the best way to commute into the district is on Metro.

03:17So we encourage folks to use public transportation as much as possible.

03:20Well, there we go.

03:21All right.

03:22Justin Brown, deputy director of the D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management

03:25Agency.

03:26Thanks again for joining us this morning.

03:28Thanks for having me.

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