THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 9, 1996 TAG: 9601090230
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: THE BLIZZARD OF '96
SOURCE: BY ALEX MARSHALL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 132 lines
There are sometimes drawbacks to being on top. At Norfolk City Hall Monday morning, there were 11 of them.
That's how many flights of stairs Assistant City Manager Shurl R. Montgomery had to walk to make it to the top of a crippled City Hall building where Mayor Paul D. Fraim, City Manager James B. Oliver, Deputy City Manager Darlene Burcham and other top administrators have offices.
Montgomery arrived at 7:30 a.m., bundled in a thick windbreaker and scarf, ready to keep City Hall in business despite having neither heat nor light in the building.
The underground explosions that had rocked downtown Sunday had left the 11-floor building and much of the surrounding area without power. Virginia Power began restoring electricity late Monday morning. Until that time, city leaders did their best to keep government running.
Most city buildings downtown were without power Monday morning. The Navy lent the jail two portable generators to supplement the building's emergency power sources.
All over Hampton Roads, city halls struggled to stay in business Monday in the face of a winter storm that had iced roads and caused other difficulties. Many cities opened offices late and closed early.
On Monday morning, Norfolk city administrators gathered at the emergency operations center off Virginia Beach Boulevard and made plans to move some functions to temporary offices set up at Scope. The arena was was one of the few buildings downtown with heat, power and telephone service.
The drill was a limited replay of those for Hurricane Felix last August. At that time, the city set up a mini-City Hall at the center, with a desk for every city department.
Courts were closed Monday in Norfolk, as were libraries and offices of the commissioner of revenue and the treasurer.
In Chesapeake, Monday's additional snowfall forced city offices, courts and other city facilities to shut down at noon after opening two hours late. City schools were closed, as were Northwest River Park, all city recreation centers and senior citizens centers.
Virginia Beach city offices remained open all day Monday, though the General District and Juvenile courts closed at 1 p.m. School administrators worked only a half-day because of the storm; the Health Department closed at 4 p.m. and the city libraries and recreation centers closed at 5 p.m.
The recreation centers will open at 8:30 a.m. today, instead of the normal 6:30 a.m., because of the weather.
In Portsmouth, City Hall, courts and most other city offices closed at 1 p.m. A City Council meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday was postponed until Feb. 12.
While most folks thought the snow was an inconvenience, James R. Spacek, the director of public utilities, called it a ``mixed blessing.''
``We still haven't recovered from the dry summer so this will help the reservoirs,'' Spacek said.
Spacek said a crew from the American Water Works Association, a national utilities association, was scheduled to fly to Norfolk from Denver, Colo., Monday to videotape a segment on the Portsmouth and Norfolk utilities distribution maintenance program. The crew got snowed in at an airport in Washington, D.C.
``The woman said they were really sorry but they were trapped,'' Spacek said. ``She said she didn't understand it because it was only a couple of feet of snow and they get that in Denver all the time.''
Spacek said the only other casualty that might be linked to the snow was a fire hydrant on Randolph Street. On Saturday night the hydrant was the victim of a hit and run driver. Spacek said water was shooting up into the snow-laden air on Saturday night. Police didn't catch the driver, Spacek said.
In Suffolk, the courts remained shuttered, and city offices opened at 10 a.m. and closed at 1 p.m.
``Mondays are usually our busiest day,'' said Patsy Bremer, with the voter registrar's office. ``We only had one straggler today who showed up to register.''
Sheril Davenport, a secretary in Public Works, said she got up at 4 a.m. and prepared herself for the morning ride to work. When the weather is this bad, the Traffic Engineering Department makes sure she gets in to work, she said.
``They usually send someone to pick me and the switchboard operator up,'' said Davenport.
Once at work, Davenport said the office was flooded with calls, mostly from residents wondering when their trash would be picked up.
Suffolk trash crews are running at least one day behind, said Davenport.
They'll try to pick up today, she said. ``But I seriously doubt it,'' since routes those days are on back roads between Holland and Whaleyville. Street crews, however, will be working.
``They've been out there since 6 o'clock Saturday night, almost constantly,'' Davenport said.
Secondary roads throughout the area offered some tough going.
Officials with cities and the state Department of Transportation closed some primary roads late Sunday night and early Monday morning.
The eastbound and westbound ramps joining Interstates 664 and 64 near the Hampton Coliseum were temporarily closed Monday morning due to severe icing. Norfolk officials also closed several bridges Sunday and Monday due to ice, said city officials.
Eastbound and westbound lanes on Interstate 264, including the Downtown Tunnel and the Berkley Bridge, were closed shortly after noon Monday after a portion of the draw froze. Traffic was back to normal by 1:30 p.m.
VDOT officials said that even some of the chemicals used to melt ice on roadways were not working. The chemicals need heat from vehicles to interact with the snow. A lack of traffic wasn't helping.
In addition, some VDOT vehicles were stuck in the snow, unable to climb slight inclines on local interstates. In some cases, according to VDOT spokesman Bob Spieldenner, salt trucks were stuck behind salt trucks. Monday afternoon, VDOT trucks were still spreading salt and sand on primary routes to counter the falling snow. MEMO: Staff writers Mac Daniel, Karen Weintraub, Toni Whitt and Katrice
Franklin contributed to this report.
ILLUSTRATION: This view toward the MacArthur Memorial in downtown Norfolk was
a study in tranquillity when this photo was taken Monday. But for
many city employees - in Norfolk and in other local areas - the
effort to get to work Monday morning was anything but tranquil.
MOTOYA NAKAMURA
The Virginian-Pilot
UPDATE FOR TODAY
Chesapeake: The trash pickups that had been planned for Monday
have been rescheduled for Wednesday.
Norfolk: Trash pickups will take place as usual, and all
government offices are to open normally.
Virginia Beach: Any trash that was missed on Monday will be
picked up today, in addition to today's regular schedule.
Portsmouth: Monday's trash will be collected on Wednesday. If
today's trash cannot be collected because of bad weather, it will be
picked up on Saturday.
Suffolk: No trash pickup in Suffolk today.
KEYWORDS: WINTER STORM BLIZZARD by CNB