MPR’s Pat Kessler reports on the literal stand still in place for much of the Twin Cities after large snowstorm. Kessler details abandoned cars, shut businesses, no school, a sag to Metrdome roof, and airport closure.
One of the largest snowfalls on record for December in the Twin Cities was this December 27-28, 1982, with 16.5 inches on the ground. It brought heavy wet snow and even lightning. The Minneapolis St. Paul Airport was closed for 19 hours due to this storm (first time airport was closed because of snow since March, 1965).
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PAT KESSLER: The first storm of the winter was bad news for thousands of area businesses who simply shut their doors for the day. 100 more schools around Minnesota were also closed and government offices never opened. The streets were almost deserted in the Twin Cities early in the day except for those brave souls who tried to walk to work through snowdrifts.
Abandoned cars were scattered along residential streets and freeway entrances, hindering the cleanup effort of road crews. The Metropolitan Transit Commission buses were running, but there were no schedules. MTC spokesman Roger Downey said the buses arrived as quickly as they could negotiate the clogged streets.
ROGER DOWNEY: We know that we have buses stuck in a lot of places, so yeah, in some locations they're essentially impassable. We run into a lot of problems, particularly at the end of routes. The bus has to be turned around, and often that means taking it from a main street around a block on a side street. And it's very easy to get stuck in those locations. And of course, many of the main streets are still in terrible shape.
PAT KESSLER: I saw a couple of the main arteries in Saint Paul anyway jammed with cars or people who had left their cars in the middle of the street and the buses just could not get through.
ROGER DOWNEY: Yes, that becomes a problem. We've had some buses stuck in which there were also cars stuck in front of and behind the bus, and that makes them very difficult to free.
PAT KESSLER: So the long and short of it is that the bus service is slowly returning to normal as the streets are cleared, the buses are on them.
ROGER DOWNEY: That's right. I wouldn't recommend traveling, but if you have to get around the city tonight, the bus is probably one of the better ways to do it.
PAT KESSLER: The MTC is working to keep the buses running tonight and through the rush hour tomorrow morning, but whether all the buses will be on schedule is an open question. Travelers on the ground weren't the only ones to have trouble, the Twin Cities International Airport shut down at midnight last night and was closed for most of today, stranding air travelers.
At last report, at least one runway was open at 6 o'clock, but airport spokeswoman Dorothy Schaeffer said it may take all night to open up the rest of the airport.
DOROTHY SCHAEFFER: The ramps are in bad shape. They all need plowing. And the taxiways are extremely bad shape, you have to be able to dissipate that snow and you can't leave high ridges over and above their wingtips or they'll damage their wingtips as they taxi out.
PAT KESSLER: You may be interested to know that this is the longest period of time that the Twin Cities Airport has remained closed for 30 to 40 years, according to airport officials, and that's a bitter pill to swallow for an airport that has a record of staying open in the worst of weather. And the worst of weather has affected the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome before, and it did so again today.
Sports Facilities Commission Chairman Dan Brutger said heavy drifting above the dome's light fixtures caused what some said was a partial deflation. But what Brutger called a sag.
DAN BRUTGER: You have some deflection there, very minor, but when you get a 58 mile an hour wind, your roof takes on a different shape. The aerodynamics are such that you have a vacuum on one side and a pressure on the other, and so you get some distortion. And that distortion is even for a short period of time, it permits a depression where the snow built up.
PAT KESSLER: City officials in both Minneapolis and Saint Paul have declared snow emergencies. If your car is parked on a snow emergency route, you should move it if it is at all possible. That may be difficult with all the snow, so there won't be any of those $25 tickets issued for those cars that just can't get out.
Also, both Minneapolis and Saint Paul will be plowing North South streets tomorrow and East West streets on Thursday. We've touched on a lot of problems caused by the storm today, but we also received calls today from people who were enjoying their unexpected holiday. And Gary, I suspect the storm gave a lot of people some extra time to rest after this holiday season.
GARY EICHTEN: Thank you Pat. Pat Kessler reporting.