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American Morning
Winter Storm Shuts Down Washington, D.C. Area
Aired February 17, 2003 - 09:08 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Patty Davis, I'm sure downtown Washington looks much like this as well today, but it's not over for you guys yet, is it?
PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, Paula. And did Jason Carroll say he's a California kid? Because I'm a Wisconsin kid, and we're used to this kind of snow. But I can tell you that this is even a huge snow storm by Wisconsin standards here in Washington, D.C.
Fifteen inches of snow here at Reagan National Airport, 25 inches of snow just north of the city in Silver Spring, Maryland. This airport is closed, hoping to reopen now at 4:00 p.m. They moved that time back, and they say that is optimistic.
Now, this airport handed out blankets overnight. There were some people who just did not want to leave. They were thinking that they would be able to get out in the morning, so they were going to stay put. Well, they camped out on heat grates, on the chairs covered with those blankets.
Also, about 150 people at Baltimore-Washington International Airport were stranded there last night. A bonus if you were at that airport last night, you got not only a blanket but you got a pillow as well.
Now, 314 flights canceled already today at Baltimore-Washington International Airport. Not looking good there. United is saying that it's canceled pretty much -- it's down for the count in Baltimore as well as the Washington, D.C. area, New York and Philadelphia. These airports are doing the best they can to get everything open, get these runways going.
You can see white-out conditions behind me here at Reagan National Airport, but the airlines pretty much not operating many flights, because it's just hard to get in and it's hard to get their people in -- Paula.
ZAHN: Well, I know you made note of the fact you're a Wisconsin girl. I'm a Chicago girl, and we've seen plenty of this as we grew up. But I have to tell you, this is one of the worst storms I've seen in New York that I can remember. I know there was a bad one in '96, but I think this one, by the end of the day, will out pace that one.
Patty, I hope they let you get inside and take a little break here this morning.
DAVIS: Thanks a lot. This would even shut Chicago down, so we're doing pretty well here.
ZAHN: Yes, exactly. Thanks -- take care.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired February 17, 2003 - 09:08 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Patty Davis, I'm sure downtown Washington looks much like this as well today, but it's not over for you guys yet, is it?
PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, Paula. And did Jason Carroll say he's a California kid? Because I'm a Wisconsin kid, and we're used to this kind of snow. But I can tell you that this is even a huge snow storm by Wisconsin standards here in Washington, D.C.
Fifteen inches of snow here at Reagan National Airport, 25 inches of snow just north of the city in Silver Spring, Maryland. This airport is closed, hoping to reopen now at 4:00 p.m. They moved that time back, and they say that is optimistic.
Now, this airport handed out blankets overnight. There were some people who just did not want to leave. They were thinking that they would be able to get out in the morning, so they were going to stay put. Well, they camped out on heat grates, on the chairs covered with those blankets.
Also, about 150 people at Baltimore-Washington International Airport were stranded there last night. A bonus if you were at that airport last night, you got not only a blanket but you got a pillow as well.
Now, 314 flights canceled already today at Baltimore-Washington International Airport. Not looking good there. United is saying that it's canceled pretty much -- it's down for the count in Baltimore as well as the Washington, D.C. area, New York and Philadelphia. These airports are doing the best they can to get everything open, get these runways going.
You can see white-out conditions behind me here at Reagan National Airport, but the airlines pretty much not operating many flights, because it's just hard to get in and it's hard to get their people in -- Paula.
ZAHN: Well, I know you made note of the fact you're a Wisconsin girl. I'm a Chicago girl, and we've seen plenty of this as we grew up. But I have to tell you, this is one of the worst storms I've seen in New York that I can remember. I know there was a bad one in '96, but I think this one, by the end of the day, will out pace that one.
Patty, I hope they let you get inside and take a little break here this morning.
DAVIS: Thanks a lot. This would even shut Chicago down, so we're doing pretty well here.
ZAHN: Yes, exactly. Thanks -- take care.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
