Travel Remains Dicey, Public Transit Limited as Md. Roads are Cleared

Jan. 26--The region's roads remained of primary concern on Monday, as local governments worked to eliminate the snow and public transportation was still limited.

In the wake of a storm that dumped up to 35 inches in part of Frederick County, city and county officials warned that it might take several days before roads are clear and motorists have full mobility again.

Authorities are still looking into the death of a Knoxville man whose body was found Saturday morning and whether it was related to the storm.

The Frederick County Sheriff's Office said the 64-year-old man's wife said he had planned to shovel, but when his body was found next to a vehicle outside, there was no indication he had been trying to clear snow.

The sheriff's office had not released the deceased man's name or the cause of his death as of Monday afternoon. A sergeant said he did not know of any updates in the case.

A person injured in a snowblower accident Monday afternoon was taken to R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore by helicopter, according to Steve Leatherman, a Frederick County Division of Fire and Rescue Services spokesman.

A Maryland State Police helicopter landed at Walkersville High School after the call came in around 3 p.m. Monday, Leatherman said.

State police responded to a handful of crashes Monday morning, none with serious or life-threatening injuries, according to Sgt. Vinson Smith.

A head-on collision at about 10 a.m. Monday near Md. 26 and Chestnut Grove left two people injured and closed a portion of the road for roughly half an hour.

Both suffered minor injuries and were taken by ambulance to Frederick Memorial Hospital, Smith said.

Troopers went to several calls for cars sliding or hitting guardrails along state highways early Monday, but there was "nothing big" as of noon, Smith said.

He urged motorists to slow down and give snow removal trucks and operations on the road a wide berth. A crew working to remove snow on I-70 near mile marker 61 at about noon Monday had to stop because it was unsafe, he said.

"If you see snow removal [operations] going on, slow down and move to the far lane, away from it," Smith said.

Officers with the Frederick Police Department encountered "no major issues" Monday, aside from dealing with some snow-covered roads with only one lane cleared for traffic, according to Lt. Clark Pennington, a spokesman.

"We're working through it," he said. "And reminding people to stay off the road."

Crews are working to have at least "one lane in and out of everywhere" by early Tuesday, said Jack Markey, director of the Frederick County Division of Emergency Management.

"Overall, we're making good progress," Markey said Monday. "Getting a single lane into each of the neighborhoods is our priority when we're not running emergency calls."

Throughout the day Monday, officials pulled plows off designated routes and directed them to instead clear pathways for first responders on emergency calls.

"It's definitely having an impact on us with the amount of snow," Markey said.

The Maryland Emergency Management Agency said its executive director has sent a letter of intent for the state to pursue federal disaster assistance. MEMA is also asking that the Federal Emergency Management Agency begin the process for joint damage assessments from the storm.

Limited snow removal equipment hindered county efforts to clear roads and neighborhoods Monday. Given the amount of snow, only heavy plows could venture into neighborhoods and snowed-in streets, many of which had 30 to 35 inches of snow piled up.

"The smaller ones can't go into a cul-de-sac filled with snow," Markey said. "Proportionally, we have less vehicles that can handle this quantity of snow."

To keep motorists off the road, county and city governments closed their offices Monday and Tuesday. Frederick County Public Schools shut down for students for both days, putting employees on code yellow for Monday and Tuesday.

Markey could not predict when roads would be clear again, adding that the county and city are doing "the best we can."

"We really ask citizens to be patient," he said.

Both public and private transportation remained limited Monday, as some bus and train services extended cancellations into Tuesday.

TransIT canceled its bus services for Tuesday, except transportation for dialysis, according to the Frederick County website.

MARC trains, which didn't run on Monday, will have limited service Tuesday, according to the MARC website.

Frederick Municipal Airport remained indefinitely closed on Monday as snow removal efforts continued, according to Rick Johnson, airport manager.

"The Mayor and airport staff are working towards a resolution but at this time are unable to provide a date or time we will be able to resume normal operations," Johnson said in an email to The Frederick News-Post.

At Frederick Memorial Hospital, staff members who stayed overnight Friday and Saturday were finally heading home. Melissa Lambdin, a spokeswoman for the hospital, said only a few volunteer drivers remained Monday.

"Everything's operating fine," she said Monday afternoon.

Though some off-site clinics were closed or opened late Monday, Lambdin said they hope to be back on their regular schedule Tuesday.

Rich Folkers, a spokesman for the National Cancer Institute at Frederick, said a handful of emergency employees were working at the institute's Fort Detrick offices Monday.

Some Leidos Biomedical employees in security, facilities maintenance, engineering and animal care have been on-site since Friday. The institute's mice, for example, needed to be fed.

"Those animals require care, regardless of the weather," Folkers wrote in an email. In the labs, cell cultures may need to be monitored as well, depending on the experiment.

Leidos Biomedical operates the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research through a contract with the National Cancer Institute. Some Leidos contractors work at the Advanced Technology Research Facility in Frederick. A few of their essential employees were working on-site Monday, according to Folkers.

Staff writers Brandi Bottalico and Sylvia Carignan contributed to this report.

Copyright 2016 - The Frederick News-Post, Md.