DULLES, Va. — Clinton Pavelko left a sun-drenched beach in Grenada, and returned to a car almost completely buried in snow in the economy lot at Washington Dulles International Airport.
“Quite a difference from how I left it,” Pavelko said.
He heard that the region was getting hammered with more than two feet of snow, but he wasn’t sure what to expect.
“They were naming it ‘Snowzilla’, so I expected it to be pretty bad,” he said.
As he approached his car, Pavelko knew he had a lot of work ahead of him.
“I was debating to use my kid’s car seat as an improvised shovel,” he said.
Luckily for him, two Airports Authority facilities employees were ready to help.
“They just happened to driving by, and had some shovels in the back — I asked if I could borrow one,” Pavelko said. “They jumped out, took a shovel each, and helped dig me out. I thought I was going to be at this for a couple hours.”
Airports spokesman David Mould said as crews get more of the airport’s runways open, additional heavy machinery will be available to plow snow from the lots.
Huge front loaders and smaller Bobcats are already moving and piling snow in the lots, while hundreds of buried cars remain under snow.
“I think we have enough crews standing by, given the smaller volume of travelers we expect today,” Mould said.
Departing airline passengers parking in the lots have been able to find parking spots that arriving passengers have recently left.
Mould said in the next day or so, many more parking areas will be cleared of snow, making it convenient for departing passengers.
Get more information about the storm’s impact on the airports here.
