February 13, 2008
Ice Storm Ruins Commute, Causes Multiple Falls
When yesterday's ice storm was just getting underway, I posted a rather pathetic admission that I had fallen down on the ice outside of DCist HQ. Since then, many of you have added your icy sidewalk tales of woe to the comments, some with far worse results than mine. But if this FOX News report is any indication, my slip and fall truly pales in comparison to that of U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who actually broke his shoulder after falling on the ice last night. Gates will have to sit out a House Appropriations Committee hearing today while he receives medical treatment for the break. Get well soon, Secretary Gates. Your pratfall is in good company.
And how about that traffic? We've heard plenty of horror stories about last night's commute thanks to multiple major accidents across the metro area, especially at the mixing bowl, anywhere near the 14th Street Bridge, along several ramps between I-95 and the Capital Beltway, and parts of I-66 -- too many stretches of road just became sheets of ice, and traffic literally came to a standstill for several hours. We also heard from people who waited an extra 20-30 minutes for regular Metrobus service, and from far too many people, especially in Virginia, who were unable to make it to the polls to vote before 7 p.m. due to the weather. Maryland extended its voting hours until 9:30 p.m., while the District still closed its polls on time at 8 p.m.
The federal government opened two hours late today, as did some schools, and Metro extended rush hour service to 10:30 a.m. to accommodate a second wave of commuters. Feel free to add your ice storm stories to the comments, and don't forget to continue to be careful out there: an Ice Warning is still in effect until 11 a.m.
Photo by Samer Farha
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Mrs. Monkey and I ditched work early to vote, so we dodged the traffic fustercluck. Who says voting doesn't make a difference?
Wife and I got off the metro at Tenleytown last night. Just as we're about to cross the street, I nearly slipped, and caught myself just in time. Wife tells me to be careful, and with that slips and falls ass over teakettle, dinging her hand and bruising her right hip.
Still, the ice-covered trees were a beautiful sight this morning.
I was walking out the door last night, slipped on the top step. Five steps later, and I didn't land the triple axel. Boy am I sore.
I almost fell 6-7 times in a two block span of a walk home from the metro. The ice was sneakily hidden on many of the brick sidewalks around the hill and did not cooperate well with the worn treads on my tennies.
count me as a non-voter because of the weather. i was on my way to my voting place on Glebe, and thought i was lucky because the ART bus was running a little slow . . . and then i waited . . . and waited . . . and waited. no cabs at Ballston, no busses, no more shelter except for my umbrella heavy with ice. i waited 40 minutes until finally a bus came through, and the ride took easily 20 minutes to go a mile. the busdriver had to take a different route, but at least we got to our destination safely.
i got to my house at 7pm exactly. no time to make it to the polls. and i was so excited to vote.
man, my tailbone is still sore from the fall I took yesterday on the way home. I was on my way to get some Dunkin Donuts, but after catching some air and landing on my ass, I was like f-that noise. Shoot.
the phrase (in a Bush accent)..."Fenty, you did a heck of a job comes to mind."
What a terrible job the DC and Arlington PW Depts. did with salting roads and public sidewalks, saw 3 accidents on my walk home, one person getting bandages outside the Rosslyn metro by the fire dept. and it took me about 30 mins to walk a normally 10 min walk home. And streets in my neck of the woods weren't even salted til as late as 9pm. Maybe if Fenty spent less time illegally electioneering for his buddy and more time doing his job things might have been better last night.
Blame Mother Nature, not the DOTs.
HOW IS HE GOING TO HANDLE AL QAEDA IF HE CAN'T HANDLE ICE!?1
Sidewalk in front of Casa de HillRat was a sheet of ice last night, but a quick trip to Frager's for a 40 lb bucket of ice melt quickly eliminated the problem and BabyRat had a great time throwing the stuff everywhere. Sidewalks on the way to work were a mess this morning, I'm a little surprised that more people couldn't be bothered to throw around a little salt or sand.
"Blame Mother Nature, not the DOTs."
I blame whoever takes my tax dollars and doesn't provide the services I pay them to do.
Posted this in the morning roundup thread, it's more appropriate here I guess: On the news this morning they were talking to drivers who were stuck in the mixing bowl clusterfark last night. My favorite was the buttoned-up, uber-professional, B&T guy who said "I had to go in a cup! Then I dumped it out the window. Sorry, man, I had to go!"
(Yes, it was funny the second time, too)
Today, as was the case last night, walking is decidedly more treacherous than driving. Especially curbs, and the sides of the "troughs" at crosswalks.
I figured the grocery stores would be crowded last night. Man, what a surprise! The lines at the Safeway on Kentucky Ave SE (Unsafe-Safeway is it?) were only 4 or 5 deep and only took 20 mins. That's outstanding considering how long it usually takes!
I had the pleasure of spending the night with my significant other's mother due to her inability to make it home to Prince William County from the Hill b/c 395 looked like a disaster movie.
I fell yesterday walking in Foggy Bottom. I fell at Pennsylvania and 25th. Got scraped up a tidge and broke my headphones, and I was not too happy about that.
The rest of my walk was more of a slow creep. I slid a lot but the other times I managed to keep my balance.
And leaving my house today there's still ice on the ground (rolling my eyes).
My 6pm bus was almost 30 minutes late getting there, and it took another 20 minutes to get from 19th & H to 19th & F. All told, it took me two hours to get from my work to my apt in Arlington, which included getting off the bus and walking the last mile.
OMG freezing rain. Last year I lived in Central Illinois and we had 18 inches of snow in one day, and I still got to work on the bus in a reasonable amount of time. Dealing with weather is not that difficult - especially not if the city and WMATA is as well-prepared as they claimed to be at the beginning of the season.
I am so glad I got up early to vote before work. I've heard too many stories of people missing the ending time to regret being tired later in the day.
Then again, eff Virginia for not accommodating the weather. Props to Maryland for doing so. And their flag's cooler, too.
Some poor man fell really hard by my house. He was walking home from voting and had to be carted off in an ambulance. He was in a LOT of pain.
i posted this earlier, but it took me two hours to drive from old town to DCA and back on the GW parkway. luckily i was listening to dc101 and they had some entertaining traffic banter and music. but my poor friend that was i picking up had to wait for me, and this is her first visit to DC! welcome to the district, you can't go anywhere without falling on your face.
though i guess i'm lucky i wasn't anywhere on 395. and that i voted during lunch.
MSto,
Whenever I have friends visit me (usually their first time in DC since they were little), the weather is invariably piss-poor. I have said "it doesn't always torrentially rain here, honest!" more times that I care to remember...
The streets were fine on the Hill so many people walked on those instead of the sidewalks in the residential areas. Dupont Circle was a whole 'nother issue. Tiny mincing steps were called for. I was surprised the merchants weren't salting the sidewalks there. Lawsuits, anyone?
DH already slipped on the ice in front of our house. He had it well salted by the time I got home.
Sidewalks aren't the responsibility of DC, Rusaku, but the residents or merchants, who were doing a lousy job.
Really - mincing in Dupont Circle? Whatever next?
"Sidewalks aren't the responsibility of DC, Rusaku, but the residents or merchants, who were doing a lousy job."
DC law gives owners 8 hours from first daylight after a storm ends. From the perspective of an owner, why clear the sidewalk last night when you're just going to have to do it again this morning? A lawsuit is unlikely to be successful.
When I woke up this morning I looked out the window and thought the ice coating the tree branches looked really pretty. I wasn't thinking the same thing when I discovered the ice coating my front steps by sliding down them.
To everyone who fell...
Buy YakTrax.
$25 will save you from getting your buttbone broken!
"Sidewalks aren't the responsibility of DC, Rusaku, but the residents or merchants, who were doing a lousy job."
What about places like the Skywalk in Rosslyn, metro stations (WMATA, natch), and overpasses....places very prone to freezing...I think a lawsuit would indeed be successful
and places where there aren't specified owners or residents.
Took me almost 2 hours to get home from Hanover to Takoma. I thought it was fortunate my polling place was within walking distance until I nearly fell several times.
What was really fun was walking my dog last night...when he starts to slip, he tries to walk faster...think urban dog sledding.
Fortunately, this storm was so rapidly upon us that the toiletpaper/Wonderbread/milk-hoarding set didn't have time to descend on the grocery stores like a bunch of lactose intolerant, incontinent, starch-addicted locusts. Cold comfort, I know, but like Grandpa Monkey used to say, "Whenever God takes a dump, he always opens a window."
"Defense Secretary Robert Gates fell on some ice at his home Tuesday night and fractured his right shoulder, officials said Wednesday."
even our own secretary of defense couldn't defend himself against the ice.
i know, my jokes are lame.
My boyfriend fell on the ice on top of his messenger bag and cracked his laptop in half. I honest to God thought someone had died when he showed up at my place. Of course, I've been there, and for geeks, laptop loss ain't pretty. The hard drive on his works (miraculously) but the rest of it is totally dead.
i dunno what i'm doing. i didn't read the DCist intro..
I busted my butt in a parking garage in Shirlington. Didn't notice the leak above my truck when I parked, and had a nice little fall before I could even get my second foot on the ground. Luckily the smart employees at the Carlyle generously salted the sidewalks around the shops so I didn't have any trouble for the rest of the night.
Sadly, though, the woman who witnessed my gymnastic genius didn't have the courtesy to clap.
i live in eastern market (lucky me) and walked to blockbuster from my place near 4th street SE. no problems getting there.. but boyee, getting back was kind of scary. the sidewalks suddenly turned into a big frigging sheet of ice. i almost slipped, but a nice guy rescued me... he tried to rescue another girl and she thought he was trying to attack her.so much for being a good humanitarian! saw about five people fall on the way back. a 5 minute walk ended up taking me 30 minutes as i inched across the ice. i broke my leg a few years ago (no, not on ice) and have a significant amount of hardware down there so was paranoid about falling and seeing metal stick out.... at least i didn't fall on a laptop.
i live in eastern market (lucky me) and walked to blockbuster from my place near 4th street SE. no problems getting there.. but boyee, getting back was kind of scary. the sidewalks suddenly turned into a big frigging sheet of ice. i almost slipped, but a nice guy rescued me... he tried to rescue another girl and she thought he was trying to attack her.so much for being a good humanitarian! saw about five people fall on the way back. a 5 minute walk ended up taking me 30 minutes as i inched across the ice. i broke my leg a few years ago (no, not on ice) and have a significant amount of hardware down there so was paranoid about falling and seeing metal stick out.... at least i didn't fall on a laptop.
my first comment! it posted twice, and my cool avatar didn't show up. maybe it'll be my last. :)
Or here's an idea: Don't look to blame someone else all the time because you hurt yourself. Ice is slippery. If you fall, oops! Some other things to remember: Knives are sharp, fire is hot, and tigers are bitey.
who's blaming?
I've never seen a city not put down salt or bother to shovel like DC. It's pretty ridiculous.