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CNN Live Sunday
Winter Storm Covers Area From Missouri to New Jersey
Aired February 16, 2003 - 18:18 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.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: A deadly winter storm touching nearly half the nation is smothering much of the Midwest and Northeast with deep snow. At least five people died. At least those deaths have been blamed on the region's harshest storm so far this season. Some major airports are closed or crippled, and ice and snow are causing widespread traffic nightmares.
Forecasters are warning Virginians to brace for more than two feet of snow. Residents have spent the day frantically stocking up on sand and other emergency supplies. Snow fell today from Missouri to New Jersey.
Where it's too warm to snow driving rains are wreaking havoc there. Tennessee, for example, endured more than seven inches of rain over the weekend.
Well, the blizzard may give the nation's capital its deepest snowfall since 1922. The storm has closed Baltimore-Washington Airport.
And CNN's Patty Davis is at Reagan National Airport following its struggle to reopen -- Patty, we know that it's pretty tough. This is a town that does not deal well with the bad weather.
PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. The D.C. area does not deal well with all of this snow and, in fact, as you said, we may get as much as a couple feet. Reagan National Airport, in fact, closed today and it said that it may be hard pressed to open even before tomorrow afternoon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVIS (voice-over): Inch after inch of snow piled up in the Washington, D.C. area, snow so deep snow plows, four wheel drives, cross country skis and snowshoes about the only way to get through it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean in '96 you had 17 inches and it looks like we might be getting up to that same amount, maybe a bit more.
DAVIS: The arrival and departure boards told the story at the closed Washington Reagan National Airport. Frustrated passenger Iris Wei watching the Weather Channel, ready to camp out.
IRIS WEI, STRANDED PASSENGER: They told us we need to get in early anyway. So we are just kind of hanging out here and I just hope that the airport is not going to get too cold at night. DAVIS: Airlines worked to dig their planes out, but they weren't going anywhere. Efforts to plow runways at Reagan National were abandoned early Sunday morning.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Even if you can clear a runaway, the wind will blow the snow back onto it.
DAVIS: The winter blast also hit other states, including Delaware, Ohio and West Virginia, where snow mixed with sleet and freezing rain.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's been awful. We've had more snow, I think, this year than probably we have in the last, I'd say, five years.
DAVIS: A state of emergency was declared in West Virginia as well as Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. Amtrak was hit, too, suspending service south from Washington, D.C. because of track problems. On Washington's Mall, monuments and the Smithsonian Museums closed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were going to the African Art Museum to see a movie. It was closed. All of the museums were closed.
DAVIS: With snow still coming down, Washingtonians worked to clear the bumper high snow from their cars on Capitol Hill and crews plowed this Senate office building.
(on camera): But the snow came with a silver lining. It came on President's Day weekend and the federal government is closed on Monday, which means that there is still another day to clear it away before workers return -- Carol.
LIN: Well, they need that time because I've actually seen skiers go down Independence Avenue in Washington. People will get around any way they can to get to work.
DAVIS: Yes, it is impossible to get around here right now.
LIN: All right, you poor thing.
Thank you very much.
Patty Davis live at Reagan National.
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 16, 2003 - 18:18 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: A deadly winter storm touching nearly half the nation is smothering much of the Midwest and Northeast with deep snow. At least five people died. At least those deaths have been blamed on the region's harshest storm so far this season. Some major airports are closed or crippled, and ice and snow are causing widespread traffic nightmares.
Forecasters are warning Virginians to brace for more than two feet of snow. Residents have spent the day frantically stocking up on sand and other emergency supplies. Snow fell today from Missouri to New Jersey.
Where it's too warm to snow driving rains are wreaking havoc there. Tennessee, for example, endured more than seven inches of rain over the weekend.
Well, the blizzard may give the nation's capital its deepest snowfall since 1922. The storm has closed Baltimore-Washington Airport.
And CNN's Patty Davis is at Reagan National Airport following its struggle to reopen -- Patty, we know that it's pretty tough. This is a town that does not deal well with the bad weather.
PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. The D.C. area does not deal well with all of this snow and, in fact, as you said, we may get as much as a couple feet. Reagan National Airport, in fact, closed today and it said that it may be hard pressed to open even before tomorrow afternoon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVIS (voice-over): Inch after inch of snow piled up in the Washington, D.C. area, snow so deep snow plows, four wheel drives, cross country skis and snowshoes about the only way to get through it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean in '96 you had 17 inches and it looks like we might be getting up to that same amount, maybe a bit more.
DAVIS: The arrival and departure boards told the story at the closed Washington Reagan National Airport. Frustrated passenger Iris Wei watching the Weather Channel, ready to camp out.
IRIS WEI, STRANDED PASSENGER: They told us we need to get in early anyway. So we are just kind of hanging out here and I just hope that the airport is not going to get too cold at night. DAVIS: Airlines worked to dig their planes out, but they weren't going anywhere. Efforts to plow runways at Reagan National were abandoned early Sunday morning.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Even if you can clear a runaway, the wind will blow the snow back onto it.
DAVIS: The winter blast also hit other states, including Delaware, Ohio and West Virginia, where snow mixed with sleet and freezing rain.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's been awful. We've had more snow, I think, this year than probably we have in the last, I'd say, five years.
DAVIS: A state of emergency was declared in West Virginia as well as Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. Amtrak was hit, too, suspending service south from Washington, D.C. because of track problems. On Washington's Mall, monuments and the Smithsonian Museums closed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were going to the African Art Museum to see a movie. It was closed. All of the museums were closed.
DAVIS: With snow still coming down, Washingtonians worked to clear the bumper high snow from their cars on Capitol Hill and crews plowed this Senate office building.
(on camera): But the snow came with a silver lining. It came on President's Day weekend and the federal government is closed on Monday, which means that there is still another day to clear it away before workers return -- Carol.
LIN: Well, they need that time because I've actually seen skiers go down Independence Avenue in Washington. People will get around any way they can to get to work.
DAVIS: Yes, it is impossible to get around here right now.
LIN: All right, you poor thing.
Thank you very much.
Patty Davis live at Reagan National.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
