We are heading toward a record-breaking winter, and it’s beginning to sound like a broken record. Another storm is coming. Now is the time to stock up on supplies. Flights will be canceled.
In the immortal words of Seinfeld, “Yada yada yada.”
Anyone who has tried to get around during this winter wallop has found that life changes when we are blanketed by snow and ice. A $20 cab ride to the airport skyrocketed to the "snow rate" of $100.
Long lines have greeted most of those who have made it to the airport. Sharon Lewis of Bowie, Md., was desperate to spend time with family in Trinidad. She bargained for an hour and got a flight to New York's Laguardia Airport. But it came with caveat: she would then have to drive across town in rush-hour traffic to make a connecting flight at John F. Kennedy Airport within an hour.
“I don't know how that's going to happen,'' she said. "It'll be a disaster.''
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Union Station was bustling with long lines as many passengers decided to try Amtrak after flights were canceled.
The creed “help thy neighbor” has been thrown out the window. Now it’s “charge thy neighbor.” On Craigslist, owners of four-wheel drive vehicles were selling rides to residents in northern Virginia and the Maryland suburbs. One classified ad read: "Stay safe on icy streets -- 4x4 Tahoe available.''
In Falls Church, Jeff Patmore, 43, was digging out his Jeep. The State Department employee's family was running low on supplies -- particularly milk for his three young children.
Patmore attempted a grocery run Saturday, but didn't make it far.
"I thought my car could do anything, and I was wrong,'' he said. "My wonderful neighbors dug me out, and I limped back with my pride injured but everything else intact.''
Officials say it will be several days before they know just how much the cleanup will cost. Maryland had already spent $50 million of the $60 million budgeted to keep the snow clear. In D.C., officials said they were over their $6.2 million snow budget even before the storm started.
Copyright AP - Associated Press
