The weather is nasty. Four inches of snow already are on the ground and six more inches are expected by the end of the day. Four minutes later, a District resident reports an explosion at Military Road and Nebraska Avenue in Northwest Washington. The District and federal governments decide to close early. Emergency shelters open to house stranded travelers, including 200 who are at Union Station because Year 2000 computer glitches have stopped Amtrak.
Glitches also cause power outages and cripple the pumps that supply gasoline to snowplows.
Huddled in two command centers on the eighth floor of the Reeves Municipal Center in Northwest Washington, the officials practiced how they would respond to a winter storm on the first day when the Year 2000 computer bug could disrupt government, businesses and other vital facilities that would have been closed over the weekend. The District's emergency-preparedness efforts, neglected for years because of financial crisis, will be severely tested during New Year's weekend. In addition to the usual New Year's Eve partying, thousands of people will be drawn to the capital for a national celebration of the millennium on the Mall. The Year 2000 problem, in which computers have been programmed to read only the last two digits of a year, heightens concerns because the District was one of the last cities in the nation to repair its computers. Obviously, we hope we won't be in this position on Jan. 3.