It wasn’t exactly something out of the Book of Revelation, but the rains that came through on Sunday took a toll on us and on the systems we rely on to get to work.
Flooding and mudslides are something that no one can plan for (ask any meteorologist) and that means we must react. The state highway trucks can’t park on the shoulders of the highways anticipating flooding rains like they might for a big snow; Metro can’t just add extra cars; and frequencies to the trains and bus routes can’t be easily adjusted.
The list of closed roads that came out of the various transportation departments is huge and the impact is great. It could be days before some of these arteries are back in use. I’d like to commend all of the men and women who got out there and did what they could to reopen as many routes as they could and to the staff at Metro who had to make adjustments to bus routes and figure out ways to bail water from the numerous stations that were flooded. This was no one’s fault and was something that is not easily planned for in a region like this, where these kinds of occurrences are rare.
Here was Don’s experience, although I’m not sure what could have been done to make it easier. I’m also sure that there were many of you who ran into similar problems.
“What a fun commute today. I knew when I woke up that I was in for a long commute from Shady Grove into D.C. I work between the Smithsonian and L’Enfant Plaza stations and can take the Red Line to either the Blue/Orange or the Yellow/Green line. I heard reports that both of these routes were blocked due to the heavy rain.
“I rode the 34 minutes from Shady Grove to Metro Center waiting to hear an update about the water problems. Not a single word of advice was given by our driver.
“I got off at Metro Center and went down the escalator to the Orange/Blue line and found a mess of people. There were a few Metro employees yelling out that the train on the tracks that I normally take was Blue Line train to Franconia-Springfield. I then knew that I needed to take a shuttle to Smithsonian as advertised on the morning news programs, so I headed back up the escalator and looked for help. None could be found. The station employee near one of the exits was, of course, in her little house and talking through a speaker while four people stood around and waited.
“I left and went outside looking for a shuttle. None to be found. I know there are four street exits and the odds were against me. I walked the five blocks to the Mall and made my way across to my office. Nice exercise, but not quite what I wanted or expected.
“When an inch of rain falls over hour for several hours I think we all have to make adjustments and sacrifices. I’m really not ready to hold anyone’s feet to the fire on this one.”
Questions, comments, random musings? Write to Steve@ SprawlandCrawl.com.
