Super snow Sunday: Region digs out from ‘historic’ storm

Shovels crunching under snow were among the first signs of life after a crippling snowstorm ground the Mid-Atlantic region to a halt, leading to scores of cancellations and closings and leaving tens of thousands without power on an important Sunday of television.

Trees and power lines sagged under the weight of a wet, heavy snow that fell more than 2 feet in some places.

Authorities in Maryland, Virginia and the District were unable to keep up with snow-removal operations against the pace of the storm and urged residents to stay home and off treacherous roads.

“For the snow-removal equipment to get in and finish the work on secondary roads, it’s important that people try to stay off the roads,” said Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell. “It’s much harder to clear when there’s a heavy volume of traffic and the plows are trying to do their work.”

Thousands of wrecks were reported, but fewer deaths than feared. As of Sunday afternoon, the only reported fatalities were a father and son who were killed Friday in Southwest Virginia while trying to help someone stuck on a highway.

The National Weather Service called the storm “historic” and reported a foot of snow in parts of Ohio and at least 2 feet in the District, Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Parts of Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia got closer to 3 feet.

The nearly 18 inches recorded at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport was the fourth-highest storm total for the city. At Washington Dulles International Airport, the record was shattered with 32 inches. As of Sunday afternoon, Dulles Airport had just one of its four runways operational with crews working on a second. Reagan Airport was closed but attempting to reopen Monday.

And it’s not over. The National Weather Service issued a winter-storm watch Sunday and said Northern Virginia and parts of West Virginia could be hit with as much as 6 inches of new snow on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The storm began in the District on Friday morning and didn’t let up for more than 30 hours.

President Obama, who called it “Snowmageddon,” also was affected. A tree limb crashed into sport utility vehicle in his motorcade carrying press members. No one was injured.

According to the National Weather Service, Washington has received more than 1 foot of snow in a single storm only 13 times since 1870.

Thousands of homes across the region were left without power, even during the Super Bowl — the NFL’s championship game and the yearly apex of televised sports.

The Office of Personnel Management announced Sunday afternoon that all federal agencies in Washington would be closed Monday and that only essential and emergency employees would have to report for work.

About 230,000 people work inside the Beltway for federal government agencies. Some school districts in the region canceled classes until midweek.

The storm hit just a little more than a month after the region was battered by about 16 inches of snow a week before Christmas.

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