Washington – Even President Barack Obama couldn’t escape the rough commute that greeted Washington commuters Wednesday evening when snowy conditions prevented him from returning to the White House via helicopter.
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It took the presidential motorcade about an hour and 14 minutes to travel between Andrews Air Force Base and the White House. The distance: roughly 15 miles. Along the way, the motorcade passed four accidents, all appearing to be fender benders with no injuries. When the motorcade was forced to stop, some of the SUVs skidded sideways until a curb kept them from sliding off the road.
The problem occurred as the result of about 1 inch of snow, a potentially bad omen with a much more powerful snowstorm bearing down on the city this weekend.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said local officials were caught off guard by the storm. In all fairness, the White House was too, considering it didn’t make the call to void the helicopter until the president was on Air Force One coming home from Detroit.
Less than an inch of snow fell Wednesday night in the District of Columbia, Maryland and northern Virginia, but that was enough for roads to immediately freeze over, causing hundreds of accidents and leaving drivers gridlocked for hours. President Obama wasn’t spared, as his motorcade slowly weaved and skidded along icy streets to the White House.
The mayor apologized to the city, saying more trucks should have been sent out to lay salt ahead of the snow — a mistake she said won’t be repeated ahead of the much bigger storm arriving Friday.
“We are very sorry for (our) inadequate response,” District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser said. “We should have been out earlier, with more resources.”
