DC officials urge people to stay home during snowstorm

AccuWeather

Clint Osborn, director of the Washington, D.C., Emergency Management Agency, joined AccuWeather live to discuss how they're working to keep the city safe during the latest snow.

Transcript

00:00Clint Osborne, he's the director of the DC Homeland Security and Emergency Management

00:04Agency. Thanks so much for joining us again, Director Osborne. We got some big questions to

00:08ask you here as we head into this evening. And we appreciate your time here. We wanted to ask

00:14about this heavy snow this evening. How have your teams been preparing for this event?

00:19Well, as of midnight, we started, Mayor Bowser activated our snow team. Our crews have been out

00:25since midnight, brining and salting our roads. That way what initially hits would melt off. And

00:31then overnight tonight, we'll have over 200 pieces of equipment, our heavy trucks and our light

00:37trucks out throughout the district, making sure that our roadways are clear and that people can

00:41move as safely as possible. Okay, so what are you expecting for this evening and in the morning

00:47commute as far as the driving conditions for drivers? Well, we're expecting snow to continue

00:53to fall into this evening. It'll be at a minimum a slushy commute. It could be a little bit icy,

01:01depending on what the weather does. The biggest message that we want people to take away is that

01:05if you don't need to travel tomorrow, don't. If you can leave extra time, pack your patience and

01:11make sure that you're giving yourself plenty of time to get where you're going, that you know

01:14your route and that you and your vehicle are in good condition to get there if you do have to drive.

01:21And tomorrow evening, there is another storm on its way. Now, this one ultimately will switch over

01:26to rain for you, but on the front end of this, there will be some ice potential. Would you

01:30prepare for that any differently in a case like today? You know, you can't pre-treat for tomorrow

01:36with ongoing snow. How do you do this when you have storms stacked up one against the other?

01:41Our snow team, which focuses on not just the roadways, but also our district government

01:46buildings, will be out all day today, tonight, and into tomorrow. And what we do is we make

01:52adjustments to our operations as we go throughout the day, but we keep equipment on to focus on

01:57icy spots that could form. Okay, so what safety messaging do you want to relay to residents and

02:04visitors to follow? First things first is, if you can stay inside or stay home, please do.

02:11Keep up to date on the status of your business operations, your workplace operations,

02:17child care and school. Make adjustments as much as you can now for tomorrow. And again,

02:23stock up on abrasives. It's always important that for your property, for the sidewalks around your

02:28home, in your area, that you get out and maybe get some abrasives on there so that we can avoid

02:34slips, trips, and falls. As always, you can sign up for Alert DC messaging with us, where we push

02:40out messaging throughout the evening and into the early morning hours about what's going on in the

02:45city. All right, Clint Osborne, Director of DC Homeland Security Emergency Management. Thank

02:51you so much for your time, Clint.

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