The nation’s capital crept back to life Monday with residents digging cars out of roadside snowbanks and public transportation and airports restarting service after a weekend snowstorm that pummeled the D.C. region.
To help clear roadways, officials urged residents to stay home if possible Monday and issued tickets to motorists whose cars became stuck on main thoroughfares and had to be towed.
But businesses and residents who didn’t shovel walkways, as required by D.C. law, were spared fines for the first major snowstorm to hit the region since the law took effect.
D.C. leaders deployed volunteer teams to help residents shovel their sidewalks and, in some cases, resorted to public shaming to encourage businesses to do the same.
“If I see any stores that are open, I do go inside and say, ’What’s up with that? Why aren’t the sidewalks clean?’” said D.C. Council member Mary M. Cheh, a Ward 3 Democrat who sponsored the legislation to make failure to shovel sidewalks a violation that is subject to fines. “There has been spotty noncompliance.”
Officials said the District delayed fines for noncompliance because of the severity of the storm, which dropped 20 to 35 inches of snow across the Washington and Baltimore region. But that didn’t stop police from ticketing and towing cars whose drivers ignored no-parking orders or became stuck in the snow.
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From the beginning of the storm Friday through 6 a.m. Monday, D.C. officials said, 505 vehicles were towed for parking illegally on snow emergency routes. Drivers risked fines of up to $750 if they became trapped on roadways and had to be towed, said Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier.
“I understand rules are rules, but it can be kind of tough,” said District Heights resident Aaron Person, who left his home Monday for the first time since the storm began to drive to a Southeast grocery store to restock his family’s refrigerator. “If you are going to suspend for one, you should suspend it for everyone.”
D.C. officials said crews were able to get major roadways 100 percent passable by the end of the day.
“We’re now taking those resources and focusing on areas that have not been hit as hard,” said Chris Geldart, director of the District’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency. “We’re starting to really get deeper into the residential areas.”
Meanwhile, Metro restarted service Monday morning, gradually expanding service back to 79 of its 91 train stations in the region by the end of the day.
The progress meant the D.C. government would reopen Tuesday, but D.C. Public Schools would remain closed and reopen Wednesday instead.
Road crews, with help from contractors, worked to clear entire neighborhoods before moving on to other locations, officials said.
“Spreading the resources all over and just barely scraping along throughout the whole city is just not a good way to do it for this storm. … With this one, you really need to concentrate resources,” Mr. Geldart said. “We’re really concentrating resources and hitting hard and then moving to the next sector within those zones so that we’re really clearing out.”
Ros Krasny was one of the residents awaiting the first pass of a snowplow on her street. The 52-year-old worked Monday to shovel her Lexus out from under a giant snowdrift on Ives Place in Southeast.
“The worry is if and when a snowplow comes through if it will just bury it again,” she said.
Nearby, 53-year-old Lanie Morales took her puppy to a playground near her Southeast home for some exercise but was resigned to stay close to home until the alleyway where her car was parked is plowed.
“There is no way we are getting out of there,” she said.
• Andrea Noble can be reached at anoble@washingtontimes.com.
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