THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 12, 1996 TAG: 9601100167
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: THE BLIZZARD OF '96
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
Portsmouth City Engineer Richard Hartman said he ventured out about 4:45 a.m. Monday to see how the roads were.
``I had crews working around the clock all weekend,'' he said.
Things looked great early in the morning, he said, but then it started to snow again. By lunch time, Portsmouth's roads were getting ``pretty slick.''
``We were basically running out of salt this morning,'' said Hartman.
The crews had used somewhere between 80 and 100 tons over the weekend, and Hartman said he had to send eight trucks over to a Norfolk supplier for another 100 tons.
``It got really bad Saturday night,'' he said ``We really couldn't keep up with it.''
Things didn't get better with the rain either.
At that point, they had to keep the slush off the road, and by Sunday morning, he said, they had to worry about flooding streets.
``We had to try to keep the snow plowed from the edge of the street so the water could get down the curb to the basin.''
A flooded portion of High Street around Halifax and Rodman avenues froze over and had to be blocked off Monday morning, he said.
``The last time we plowed any snow was in 1989.''
So a lot of the workers on the crews had no experience before they pulled their storm shifts.
``They went from having no experience to being experienced veterans in 12 hours,'' he said.
Hartman's workers weren't the only folks he saw experiencing the novelty of a snowstorm.
When he got home from a road check about 2 a.m. Sunday, neighbors were still outside playing in the snow with their children.
``They'd probably never seen snow before.''
By Monday afternoon, Harold King, manager of the Knights of Columbus, knew better than anyone in Portsmouth how many people were out there in the cold.
The snowstorm came during their week to provide shelter.
The Knights of Columbus, along with several downtown churches, is on a rotating schedule of providers of shelter for the homeless during the winter.
Usually, shelters open at 9 p.m., but the snow continued to fall Monday and buildings such as libraries, where the homeless often go to get warm, were closing early.
So many were showing up hours ahead of time to see if the shelter would open early.
King wasn't happy about turning people away, but he could not open the doors until a church member arrived at 7 p.m. with the necessary staffing, food and supplies. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MARK MITCHELL
Donald Smith is fighting a losing battle with an umbrella. He's
trying to keep the snow from blowing on him as he walks down Green
Street on Monday.
KEYWORDS: WINTER STORM BLIZZARD by CNB