Bracing for Isabel’s blow

Transportation officials across the Washington metropolitan area will suspend all bus, train and subway services today and all area school officials have canceled classes as Hurricane Isabel creeps closer to the Mid-Atlantic coast.

The federal government also closed its offices today, giving some 350,000 workers a day off.

Metro officials said last night they will suspend all services to customers at 11 a.m. Amtrak officials canceled many of its trains leaving the District for cities in Virginia and North Carolina, where Isabel was expected to make landfall this morning.

“It’s an issue of safety,” Metro spokeswoman Cheryl Johnson said of the suspension. “With wind speeds that high, people could be blown into the path of a train or bus or knocked on the rail track bed.”

Metro operates more than 1,400 buses over 340 bus routes, and trains on 130 miles of tracks, nearly one-half underground, to 47 underground stations.

Officials with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) shut down the federal government after they became concerned about potential commuter transportation problems.

“The decision was made in the interest of public safety,” said Brenda Bertrand, spokeswoman for OPM. “We took into account the difficulties that public transportation providers in the region will likely encounter as the weather deteriorates. We don’t want a massive number of people stranded downtown.”

Governors in Virginia and Maryland declared states of emergency, posting thousands of National Guard soldiers across the region.

Virginia Gov. Mark Warner authorized the evacuation of at least 86,500 residents in southeast Virginia after the National Weather Service extended a hurricane warning over that area north to Chincoteague. Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. ordered officials to evacuate all campers from state parks.

D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams also declared a state of emergency and closed all city government offices today and tomorrow.

City officials are putting snow emergency route regulations into effect at noon today, which means no parking will be allowed on roads marked with red and white snow emergency signs.

Transportation officials warned that commuters who show up for work today could be left stranded.

State transit officials canceled Maryland Rail Commuter and Virginia Rail Express service today. “This is clearly a unique situation,” said MARC spokesman Richard Scher. “There is a better than average chance we’ll be changing our plans on the fly as this develops.”

Airline companies also scrambled to stay out of the way of the hurricane.

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