Road crews tackle rare heavy snow in eastern Virginia

AccuWeather

AccuWeather's Ali Reid caught up with VDOT to hear how crews are responding to heavy snow in a part of Virginia that rarely gets it.

Transcript

00:00So right now we start and we're going to head to Suffolk, Virginia where it's been a cold and blustery day.

00:06Accuweather's Allie Reed is there with more. Allie, I can see the snow falling.

00:15Right guys, and we started our journey in Richmond, Virginia. That was way earlier this morning.

00:20The snow actually started coming down there until we said, you know what?

00:24We're going to see a decent amount of snowfall here in the Hampton Roads area.

00:28Anywhere from 9 to 12 inches. They could potentially be seeing up to a foot of snow.

00:33I-664 just behind me here. This is one of the major roadways in this area.

00:37Tim, I know you have a long day ahead of you with VDOT. Talk to me about what this morning

00:41looked like for you guys and kind of where you're at right now in the thick of this.

00:44Well, we've moved into 24-hour operations now. Crews are working on 12-hour shifts.

00:48The biggest thing, we've completed our brining activity this morning and as I said,

00:51moved into those 24-hour operations. Right now, crews are continuing to mobilize.

00:56They're out and about on the roadways, seeing what areas that need to be treated with salt

00:59as far as ahead of this and then the plowing activity starting. Generally,

01:02when we get around two inches on the ground, they're going to be out there plowing in earnest.

01:05Now, what we were talking about way earlier when I first contacted you, I said,

01:09what's really interesting about this area, you have a lot of miles that you guys cover

01:14across the state. All of them, for the most part, major roadways. So, this is a big undertaking for you guys.

01:21Most definitely. Just in the Hampton Roads District with VDOT, we cover about 10,000 road

01:26miles as far as across our district alone. And again, an event like this, a snow event like this,

01:30very unique. Probably haven't seen anything like this in about a decade. And so, it's going to be

01:35an interesting event. It's going to be a multi-day event. So, we're preparing people to stay indoors

01:40or stay off the roads, which is the biggest message we have right now.

01:43Now, obviously, you cannot speak for the police department or any other departments out there.

01:47As we were taking a drive around, we already know an hour, two hours into this with snowfall,

01:52already significant snow on the ground here. We've seen those crashes. We've seen accidents

01:57happening on those major roadways. Biggest thing that you could say for drivers right now,

02:01slow it down or stay off the roads if possible. Stay off the road. That's the basic message

02:04right there. Again, we want to ensure the safety of motorists. We want to ensure the safety of

02:08emergency responders who may be responding to those incidents like you talked about,

02:11as well as our crews are going to be out there, again, trying to plow that snow.

02:15Now, we know that we're very early on here in this snowfall. Unfortunately, the snow going to

02:21be getting a lot worse as conditions continue throughout the evening. And I'm sure that's a

02:26big talker also, is what tonight and early tomorrow morning will look like for you guys.

02:30And again, this is going to be a multi-day event. So, again, as you said, obviously,

02:33the snow has started, but it's going to continue tonight. And we're looking into tomorrow,

02:36possibly even maybe early afternoon. Some of the forecasts are kind of indicating. So,

02:40again, we're looking at a sustained event, a very concentrated event. And that's something

02:44that definitely has our attention and definitely has our forces mobilized and responding as we

02:48speak. Final question for you guys is the fact that you guys do not tackle this, like you said,

02:53as much as you typically do. This is a big thing for you guys, but it seems like you guys are

02:57getting a good grasp on it so far. Yes, we have over 400 snow plowing vehicles that are going to

03:02be mobilized and in action as far as over the course of the storm. So, we've gotten resources

03:06from other areas around the state, as well as contractors coming in to help us out to tackle

03:10this event. Tim, thank you so much. We're going to continue to follow this over the next couple

03:14of hours. This is just the start of it. Just the start. Look at this. Just the start, guys,

03:19here in Hampton Roads, the region here in Virginia. We're going to bring you lots more

03:24throughout the evening. All right. Thank you so much for that update, Allie.

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