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Governor: Those at home want to follow our response
to this storm. You can go online and check out the MEMA
website, which is mema.maryland.gov. I'm joined by a number of people who have
been working through the night and especially want to thank
the crews that have been working through the night to
keep our roads cleared. We've had ...We are right now experiencing
various ranges of snow accumulation in the State.
The areas that received the greatest snow are Montgomery, Frederick, Carroll County.
Through the central Maryland region, it has been in the range of sort of 6 to 8
and we have had a lot of rain of late which has
created a really slushy mess out there on the highways.
I want to thank the citizens of our State for staying off the roads because when our
citizens stay off the roads and stay home, that allows Melinda Peters and all the good
people at State Highway Administration to run those tandem snow plows that you all probably
saw on your way here. That is a much more efficient
and effective way to clear the highways. We are experiencing - let me talk a little
bit about power outages. We have right now 2,678 customers without
service in the State, which is ....where is that map?
There it is - and you see that the outage is pretty
localized up there in the Catoctin Mountains. No doubt a big tree or two fell and over here
in Cecil County right around the Sassafras River, another big tree. But overall,
we have come through this pretty well so far. A big concern was that we might have seen
a lot more ice with this bringing down power lines and the like
and that has not happened. So it has been a mix but we haven't experienced
that belt of heavy ice which was the real concern. We are not out of the woods yet.
If people are home, you should stay at home. Because while you will see the sun come out
now in this lull in the storm, what we are going
to see is the winds pick up.
We have warnings that are about to be issued, Jim?
or have been issued for the Bay Bridge. Jim: Wind restrictions
Governor: Wind restrictions on the Bay Bridge. We also have a nasty little tractor-trailer
of fruit that overturned right down there at 495 and
295 in the Greenbelt area that we are working
to extract. That is, if you have seen the pictures of
it on the TV, it's...you can tell that it is going to take
some time. So we are not out of the woods yet. The precipitation
slowed. We are expecting another band to swing through
the area so what we have been marking on our map as
the second punch will come through the area from roughly
3 pm through 6 pm. We expect another couple inches of something.
We would prefer that it be snow or rain rather than ice
but we are not in charge of that. So we are preparing.
We are clearing the roads. We have thirteen hundred and eighty five personnel that are out there right now.
One thousand twenty four pieces of State Highway equipment and another 17 hundred and 46 pieces of hired equipment
so the total deployment out there right now is 20..is 2,770 pieces of equipment all across
the State. General Adkins is here with us. The Maryland
Guard have deployed roughly about 500 people between
the maintenance and the technicians and the other folks
out there and are helping in response to local calls for service.
We have declared a State Emergency and while there are no specific travel restrictions
with that, we do appreciate people staying off the roads
as we, as we clear this. If you have to go out, make sure you have
a half a tank of gas and make sure somebody knows you are going out and where you're going
and of course, make sure your cell phone is charged.
What else do we have here....ummm, Maryland State Police
have deployed about 150 troopers to augment their usual patrol
and four wheel drive vehicles have been deployed. I mentioned the power outages right,
what does the map say right now? So that's 3,414 power outages as I speak
and, umm, and I think that pretty much wraps it up.
So, oh! The other thing... If while you're home,
you can conserve energy and reduce your energy usage.
We encourage you, please, to be mindful of that.
All of us can do it simply by being more mindful, and more aware.
If you would like some tips, you can go to www.energy.maryland.gov and with that - I
guess I-- Oh - MARC service is cancelled? Jim?
Jim: Cancelled Governor: Why don't you tell us about BWI,
MARC Service, commuter buses - all the transportation stuff
Jim: OK - the airport. BWI Marshall is open but
all planes have been grounded and it will take quite a while
for them to come back. We are ready at the airport.
There are no flights going out of there. The Port of Baltimore is closed. There won't
be anything done until at least 7 o'clock tonight.
As far as MARC train and commuter bus, that's cancelled.
Amtrak is cancelled from D.C. to Wilmington. The bus service is available but with some
diversions because of side streets and not being able
to get up steep hills but basically the bus service is active.
And the Governor spoke of the wind restriction on the Bay Bridge and there is also wind warning
on the Frances Scott Key Bridge. And I think that pretty much covers it.
Governor: Ken, do you want to say anything more
about the weather we are anticipating through the week
and the back end of this thing? Ken: As the Governor indicated, we're - in
a - the sun is out right now, but as the Governor indicated,
around 4 pm this afternoon, we are going to see the second
punch -the back end - of this storm come through.
We are anticipating another 2 to 3 inches of snow
and - it will be over probably early Thursday evening.
And potentially this Friday night we are going to get
two more inches of snow into Saturday. And, hopefully we'll get above freezing after that,
Governor: Let me bring up Melinda Peters
who has been our "General" of all snow plows. This woman's been doing an outstanding job
at SHA and her crews have been out there doing really
good work. We've been in touch with our county and city
partners. I saw those plows out there Melinda, beautiful
precision plowing. So why don't you tell us --
why don't you step up and introduce yourself? Melinda Peters: Thank you, Governor. Melinda
Peters, again, with Maryland State Highway Administration.
I'd just like to reinforce the message from the Governor.
First and foremost, if you don't have to go out , please don't.
Give our plows the room that they need to work.
As mentioned, there is additional snow that's going to
be coming in this evening, and we need room to work
to continue to clear the roads. If you check our chart website,
you're going to see cameras that do show bare pavement
in some areas, but it's not bare everywhere and quite frankly,
we need the room to work so we can continue to push back the shoulders and clear the roadways.
If you do have to be out, please don't crowd our plows.
I saw it overnight as I was out driving around the State
and even as I was coming here today. People getting too close to the plows or trying
to pass them. Quite frankly,if you have to be on the roadways,
the best place for you to be is rightbehind our plows.
So move back and give them room to work and they'll getthat road clear in front of you.
Thank you. Governor: (muffled).Ok - questions? Answers?
Woman's voice (muffled) Governor: Let me have Melinda talk about salt
- Melinda? Melinda: We are doing great on salt.
We are at about sixty percent capacity. So we're well within what we need to manage
this storm and the pending storms that are coming.
We will continue to place orders to restock but we have enough
that we need to fight this storm and the storms that are
on their way. From a budget perspective, Governor? Do you want to answer that?
Governor: No, I want to hear what you have to say (laughter)
Melinda Peters: Well, we were at about 80 million
spent to date before this storm. Our budget is 46 million,
but we will continue to fight the weather and do what we need to get people safely where
they need to go, and we'll go back for an amendment to address that after the winter
is over, because we can't control Mother Nature.
Governor: You said it well! That's why you're the head of SHA. (laughter) Male voice (muffled)
Governor: Well I think what - I think if you
look at any trend, I mean - we've been - with every
I think that what you've seen is that we do the
State of Emergencies a little earlier, perhaps, than we did seven
years ago, just from experience. And then there are some
of us who are wondering whether we should wait til 11 pm or 12 pm last night to close
the State, for example, and we made that call earlier
so that people could plan. As far as Atlanta goes, this sort of weather is very unusual
for Atlanta. If Atlanta were staffing up with all of the plows and all of the equipment
they needed to handle the events - uh - like this, then
people would be outraged that they are wasting the money
waiting around for a once every ten year event.
So, the main - the main, the main focus and really what
is so very important - and the good job that Ken and his fellow Department Secretaries
have done is to plan for these things and to drill and to make sure you are doing
the preventive maintenance and all of those sorts of activities that allow you to deploy
the assets when you need them in a storm. And that's what they've done. They did it
in this one. They did it in the last storm and they've
really been doing an outstanding job as evidenced by the fact that you don't see
-uh- those sorts of -umm- those sorts of -uh- giant traffic snarls
or 495 becoming a - a parking lot. So they're really good at what they do, frankly,
and I've seen them get better and better with every passing
year of this administration. Alright - thanks everybody.
We'll be doing another one later, sometime, maybe - OK?
Oh, 4 o'clock? OK, we'll keep you posted. Thanks, everyone.