Washington, Mar 21 (EFE).- Numerous US government institutions, along with schools and private companies, closed their doors on Wednesday in Washington due to the heavy snowstorm besetting the capital.
With the exception of the House of Representatives and the Senate, which for the moment are continuing to hold assorted previously scheduled hearings, the main government institutions located in the city opted not to have employees come to work because of the difficulty of traversing certain streets, which are covered with snow.
In fact, the White House reported that President Donald Trump had cancelled his entire agenda for the day, including a scheduled Cabinet meeting, due to the inclement weather.
In addition, Vice President Mike Pence was forced to cancel his official plans for Wednesday including a giving a speech before the Organization of American States about US government priorities vis-a-vis the hemisphere, an address that was “postponed until further notice.”
It is expected that the storm known as Toby will dump between 5-15 centimeters (2-6 inches) of snow in the capital area during the course of the day, especially in less-traveled parts of the city, before diminishing in intensity late on Wednesday, The Washington Post reported.
The snow, which is continuing to accumulate, has also forced public transport services to curtail their activities and, although local airports remained open during the morning, there have been a number of flight delays and cancellations.
According to the National Weather Service, the high temperature for the day so far has been 1 C (34 F) and the low will be around -2 C (29 F).