Date: 201906
Local time of day: 0001-0600
Location: ZDC.ARTCC, VA
Flight conditions: Marginal
Weather elements / visibility: Thunderstorm
Light: Night
Aircraft: Commercial Fixed Wing
Operator: Other ALL
Flight plan: IFR
Mission: Other ALL
Flight phase: Cruise; Descent; Climb
Airspace: Class A ZDC; Class E ZDC
ATC / advisory: Center ZDC
Reporter organization: Government
Reporter function: Enroute
Reporter qualification: Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Human factors: Workload; Situational Awareness
Anomaly: ATC Issue All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Detector: Person Air Traffic Control
When detected: In-flight
Result: Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance
Contributing factors: Procedure; Staffing; Weather; Company Policy
Primary problem: Staffing

Narrative: I assumed the positions of a combined sector at some time after XA:00. It was briefly busy but manageable and soon calmed enough to safely take the northern low sectors. At XA:40 I accepted them. Shortly thereafter the typical traffic began to increase as delayed aircraft from earlier in the day began to depart. Precipitation made this difficult but manageable. Soon after a fast moving large cell of extreme precipitation forced seemingly all traffic into my airspace; some in the form of point outs and some were routed through. Before long all northeast bound departing traffic was being routed through my sector. At around XB:00 a Supervisor approached me about what routing the departures should be receiving. We agreed on routing and I continued to accept many hand-offs and point outs many deviating or needing to shortly; along with southbound departures as well as other airport arrivals and other northeast bound arrival aircraft from adjacent sectors; almost all of which would need deviations at some point. At some time between XB:00-XB:15 with the sector very close to being over-saturated my relief arrived and was eventually able to take the sector. I immediately moved to the D-side as the sector continued to take more and more nonstandard routes and deviating traffic and quickly became overly saturated with complex traffic. At XB:25; around five minutes before I had reached the 10 hour single shift mark; the [shift] Supervisor instructed me to stay on the D side. I remained on the D side until I felt the sector could be safely operated without one at around XC:25.In my opinion a course of action should have been formulated and implemented long before the large cell of extreme precipitation entered our sectors as this was not a pop up storm and could be observed hours before creating this event. It is also my recommendation that miles in trail restrictions should have been utilized on all departures given the sectors level of saturation; the amount of aircraft yet to depart due to delays earlier that day; complexity due to do weather to the sectors south and west as well as the low staffing situation due to the time of day. Miles in trail especially should have been placed on the departing traffic as it was the heaviest flow during this event; the most likely flow of traffic to require deviations and its nonstandard nature to our sectors. When severe weather forces departure traffic to be routed into another sector they be consulted about the possibility of this occurrence before any aircraft are issued this routing to determine if it is feasible for that sector to safely handle the extra workload and if so what routing or miles in trail are necessary. Coordination to ensure adjacent Centers will accept these new routes should also be accomplished before departing and rerouting these aircraft.




Synopsis: A ZDC Center Controller reported having to work an 11 hour shift due to excessive workload at combined sectors with weather deviations; a lack of staffing; and insufficient flow control restrictions.