PENNSYLVANIA: ARMY NATIONAL GUARD TAKES CONTROL OF INTERSTATE HIGHWAY SYSTEM; STATE USING SNOW PLOWS TO BLOCK ONRAMPS
February 11th, 2010WGAL: Video: PennDOT Plowing Interstate On Ramps Shut
Via: Lebanon Daily News:
The Pennsylvania National Guard is playing a key role in responding to snow-related emergencies across the state.
More than 1,200 guardsmen were on duty Wednesday afternoon, but officials expected that number to rise as the snow piled up.
“We’re going to go over 2,000 guardsmen on duty to provide support for the storm,” said Maj. Cory Angell, a spokesman for the National Guard. “We’re staged at armories across the state and standing ready to help support missions.”
About 250 Humvees were being used, with an additional 549 available to support missions. Also, 28 Humvee ambulances were in use.
At the Lebanon Armory on King St. in South Lebanon Township 14 personnel, six Humvees, and one truck were standing by, but they hadn’t received any requests for support as of 4 p.m., Angell said.
The missions have actually been ongoing since the first storm hit overnight Friday and into Saturday, Angell said. So far, guardsmen have conducted more than 200 missions statewide, he said.
“Things like moving people who need to get to medical facilities but ambulances can’t get to them,” he said. “Also, Humvees are co-locating with Pennsylvania State Police to help them move around and help them respond to things.”
Guardsmen are also assisting in blocking on-ramps to interstate highways that have been shut down.
For the National Guard to get involved, municipalities must first contact their county emergency management agency. The local EMAs then contact the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, which in turn contacts the National Guard’s emergency operations center at Fort Indiantown Gap.
“That chain is important because you want to exhaust resources at the lowest level before you go higher,” Angell said.
No air missions were being conducted Wednesday, but, Angell said, there were air mission in the days in between the two storms.
“Certainly we have the ability to provide support with aviation assets, but at this point we are not, and that’s mainly because of the weather,” he said.
Yup. Looks like Pennsylvania’s version of Hurricane Katrina. I highly recommend weather.gov as opposed to weather.com.
Weather.gov forecasted the amount of snow to a T here.
Looks very benign now but in their forecast for yesterday and today they had a range of 8 to 15 inches.
Use your zip code in the search box. Excellent weather forecasting versus the weather channel.
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?CityName=Hermitage&state=PA&site=PBZ&textField1=41.2298&textField2=-80.4429
Wish I had a good way to put pictures up, but not my forte.
I’ve been a federal employee now for almost 20 years, NEVER has been a shut down in D.C. of this magnitude.
Maybe this will put a highjinx into the plans for total economic destruction of the US economy of the nice economic peoples.
I’m going to go do work from home and play the “Day After Tomorrow At the Same Time.”
Destruction by severe weather patterns is the story line. Makes total sense to me.