Justin Brown from the Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency shares how the capital is being affected by the recent snow and what help they are providing.
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00:00The snow in the nation's capitol has already closed schools and impacted this morning's
00:05commute.
00:06Justin Brown is the deputy director of the D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management
00:10Agency.
00:11Thank you so much for joining us this morning.
00:13So can you update us?
00:14What's the latest?
00:15How are some of those overnight and early morning conditions impacting the capitol?
00:19Yeah, absolutely.
00:20Thanks for having me.
00:22So our teams have been out all night.
00:24As you know, Mayor Bowser activated our snow emergency and our snow team on Tuesday.
00:29Those teams have been out all night with a complement of about 250 light and heavy plows,
00:35pushing the snow, salting, pushing the snow, salting, as well as our teams that are out
00:40sort of covering critical facilities like schools, police stations, fire stations.
00:44They've been keeping up with the snow as best as possible.
00:46I think that work has paid off.
00:49A lot of our commutes in so far have been on bare pavement, still a lot of wet, slushy
00:53snow, particularly in the medians and along the sides of the road.
00:57But like I said, that work has paid off and we've been keeping on top of it.
01:01Yeah, we have reporters on the field in Washington, D.C., and they're all reporting that roads
01:05are mostly wet.
01:07With the storm yesterday, what was the biggest challenge, you think, for you and your teams
01:12to stay ahead of it?
01:13Well, we have great partners at the National Weather Service, but one of the biggest challenges
01:17is always just watching that forecast, waiting for the latest model, reassessing what's happening.
01:22We had a 10 percent chance of the storm overperforming on the front end.
01:25It did do that a little bit.
01:27So we had some heavier, dense snow right up front and we were hoping for a little bit
01:31more of a slow lead in.
01:34But watching that storm and measuring that, keeping our leadership up to date and helping
01:38provide support to our agencies that are doing the clearing of the snow is always really
01:43our biggest challenge.
01:44Well, as we mentioned, you know, right on the heels of this, another storm moving on
01:47through.
01:48While this may not bring all the snow, still some ice and rain.
01:50So what are you guys planning for later today into Thursday?
01:54Sure.
01:56So our teams from our Department of Public Works and Transportation are out there.
02:01Incredible partners, the men and women out there have been doing an incredible job keeping
02:04things clear.
02:05They're going to stay out there to monitor, make sure that there's no icy spots, be able
02:09to clear areas where there's still snow buildup.
02:12But we are hoping that that rain and those warmer temperatures over the next 24 hours
02:16will help wash away from some of that snow and do some of that work for us.
02:20And as for the residents of Washington, D.C., what do you want to tell them as far as what
02:24can they do to help you?
02:26Absolutely.
02:27Well, safety is always first and foremost for us.
02:29So we always ask folks to make sure that they check in on their neighbors, check in on vulnerable
02:34residents, seniors, folks that may have access and functional needs, make sure that folks
02:39who need help getting in and out of their homes or clearing the areas in front of their
02:43homes or their businesses, that they're able to do that.
02:46Neighbors helping neighbors.
02:47This is Washington, D.C.
02:48That's what we do.
02:49We ask folks to keep doing that.
02:51We do ask folks to comply with the snow emergency order, which helps keep vehicles off of the
02:59key roadways and our emergency routes.
03:02That helps the Department of Public Works clear that snow curb to curb and allows us
03:07to get in and really move the snow fully off those roadways.
03:11So that's really important to keep those vehicles off the street.
03:14And as usual, the best way to commute into the district is on Metro.
03:17So we encourage folks to use public transportation as much as possible.
03:20Well, there we go.
03:21All right.
03:22Justin Brown, deputy director of the D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management
03:25Agency.
03:26Thanks again for joining us this morning.
03:28Thanks for having me.