Residents of Washington DC-area are fuming as nearly 20 schools remain closed over snow-clogged streets a week after Winter Storm Fern slammed the region.
The DMV-area was rocked by last week’s blizzard, which cemented Virginia in ice and buried DC and Maryland in mountains of snow — for the first time since last January. Prior to that, the southern tip of the Mid-Atlantic region hadn’t seen snow in years, leaving local officials scrambling to clear the streets.
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, cheekily dubbed the remaining mountains of sleet “snowcrete” because it’s proven so difficult to remove.
The city is using the shuttered RFK Stadium campus and Carter Theatre Amphitheater as dumping grounds, she said in a post on X.
Eighteen public school systems in the DMV and all DC public charter schools were either closed or enforcing delayed starts on Monday.
“We know we will not have perfect conditions any time soon, but many streets and sidewalks are NOT passable for buses or safe for student walkers,” Montgomery County Public School’s, which was closed, explained on its website. “Post-plowing snow piles are creating a safety hazard for our buses, creating poor visibility and blocking access to pass through and turn lanes.”
The frustration has even spread to Capitol Hill — where Congress is deadlocked on a spending bill over ICE funding, with Democrats refusing to vote in protest of the two fatal shootings in Minneapolis.
One senior Republican congressional aide claimed to The Post that some Democrats are “quietly seething” as Bowser continues to drag her feet with the clean-up.
“Democrats are worried about the wrong ice,” the senior GOP aide quipped, referring to the caucus’ attempts to slash ICE’s budget.
In a news conference Monday, Bowser said DC officials are also investigating up to four deaths related to the frigid temps.
The Big Apple hasn’t fared much better.
In New York City, the death toll from the severe weather rose to 16 on Monday, with trash piling up on every corner and mountains of snow creating never-ending gridlock.