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OUR LOCAL COVERAGE
CONTINUES NOW - WITH A
LOOK BACK IN TIME.
IT'S HARD TO BELIEVE...
BUT IT'S BEEN FIVE YEARS
SINCE THIS -- THE
DECEMBER DEBACLE.
SEVERAL INCHES OF
POORLY TIMED SNOW...
CRIPPLED RHODE
ISLAND...
STRANDING DRIVERS ON
THE HIGHWAY...
AND LEAVING KIDS STUCK
ON SCHOOL BUSES FOR
HOURS.
METEOROLOGIST PETE
MANGIONE IS IN THE
WEATHER YARD WITH A
LOOK AT THAT HISTORY
MAKING STORM.
FROM A SNOW DEPTH
PERSPECITVE, THE STORM WAS
NOT THAT IMPRESSIVE. BUT
THE DECEMBER DEBACLE STILL
GOES DOWN AS ONE OF THE
MOST DISRUPTIVE STORMS IN
RHODE ISLAND HISTORY.
IT WAS THE RUSH HOUR THAT
WOULND'T END.
It's been an hour since I left
work at 1
or 1:15. I've gone about 4
miles
since. 4 miles in one hour? Wow.
SNOW STARTED JUST AFTER
LUNCH ON THAT THURSDAY
AFTERNOON IN DECEMBER,
AND MANY COMMUTERS,
SCHOOL BUSSES, AND
CHILDREN DIDN'T MAKE IT BACK
UNTIL LATE THAT NIGHT.
THE STORM WAS ACTUALLY
MODEST IN SIZE AND WAS NOT
UNEXPECTED.....SNOW HAD
BEEN IN THE FORECAST THE
NIGHT BEFORE. SO WHAT
HAPPENED?
TIMINIG SEEMED TO BE
EVERYTHING AS ALMOST
EVERYONE IN THE STATE WENT
TO WORK IN THE MORNING, AND
THEN TRIED TO HEAD HOME
EARLY THAT AFTERNOON. THE
COMBINATION OF THE HIGH
TRAFFIC VOLUME, SNOW
REMOVAL TRUCKS, AND THE
SLOW CONDITIONS WAS JUST
TOO MUCH FOR THE ROADS TO
HANDLE.
POOR PLANNING AND
PREPARATION WERE ALSO
BLAMED AS CITY AND STATE
OFFICIALS FACED HEAVY
CRITICISM IN THE AFTERMATH.
AN INDENDENT COMMISION
MADE RECOMMENDATIONS ON
HOW THE STATE COULD BETTER
PREPARE FOR FUTURE
STORMS, INCLUDING MAKING
THE CALL ON CANCELLING
SCHOOL THE NIGHT BEFORE
THE STORM.
IF RECENT HISTORY IS ANY
JUDGE, THE
RECOMMENDATIONS MAY BE
WORKING. THE DEBACLE PUT
DOWN JUST OVER 8 INCHES OF
SNOW AT TF GREEN. SINCE
THEN, WE'VE HAD MANY
STORMS MUCH DEEPER THAN
THAT...BUT SO FAR, NO REPEAT
DEBACLES. PETE MANGIONE,
EWN.
(SR)
THERE'S MORE
COVERAGE YOU CAN