Power outages big fear as storm bears down on DC

Source: AP-Excite

By DAVID DISHNEAU

HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) - After pummeling the nation's midsection with heavy snow, a late-winter storm made its way Wednesday to the nation's capital, where residents braced for the possibility of power outages.

As the storm closed in, the federal government said its offices in the Washington, D.C., area would be closed Wednesday. Many major school systems around Washington and Baltimore announced pre-emptive closures as well.

Officials said outages were the biggest potential problem from the storm, which was expected to dump 5 to 11 inches of snow in Washington and Baltimore by Wednesday night. Minor tidal flooding was possible along the Delaware coast, the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay and the lower Potomac River, the National Weather Service said.

Already, the storm has been dubbed a "snowquester." The nickname is a play on the D.C. wonk term "sequester," used to describe the $85 billion that must be cut from federal budgets over the next six months after President Barack Obama and lawmakers failed to reach a deal to reduce the national deficit. The "snowquester" has shut down government offices just as the budget cuts threaten to do.

FULL story at link.



Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20130306/DA4RL5600.html

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Dark clouds spread over Currituck Sound as a winter storm approaches the Outer Banks of North Carolina on Wednesday, March 6, 2013. After pummeling the nation’s midsection with heavy snow, a late-winter storm made its way Wednesday to the East Coast, where residents braced for the possibility of power outages. (AP Photo/The Virginian-Pilot, Steve Earley)