We know it’s been warm, and most of us may want to leave winter in the past, but it’s time to address the impact of the the winter storms that iced over the city in late January and early February.

The City of Richmond just released an after-action report, which compiles data on the city’s fiscal and emergency responses throughout the back-to-back storms.

We’re going to summarize some key points so you don’t have to read all 40 pages, but take note of the page references if you want to learn more.

Weather stats

Total snowfall: 3-8 inches
Total ice accumulation: 0.3-0.85 inches
Lowest recorded temperature: 9 degrees (Page 7)

Total cost

Approximately $4 million in expenditures was allocated toward “reasonable, necessary, and storm-related costs” directly attributed to the storms. (Page 37)

Road treatments

6,000 tons of salt
5,000 gallons of liquid brine
2,000 tons of salt/salt mixture, intended to help melt snow + improve traction for plowing vehicles
80 trucks
240 personnel
7,400 total lane miles covered (Pages 25 + 26)

This is what many neighborhood streets looked like in the early days of the first storm. | Photo by RICtoday

The report notes delays during the first round of road pre-treatments, which took place Wednesday, Jan. 21, through Saturday, Jan. 24. Those delays may have affected the number of Priority 3 neighborhood roads initially treated.

Additionally, road treatment strategies did not anticipate prolonged low temperatures throughout the storms, which “severely impacted recovery efforts.” (Pages 26-29)

Emergency response

The city received ~3,100 calls to 911, and approximately 95-97% were reportedly answered within 20 second of less.
RVA311 received ~8,500 calls.
City operations and partnering nonprofits served a total of 2,350 residents across 11 emergency shelter activation days. (Pages 12, 13 + 23)

Areas of improvement

The City of Richmond made note of three key areas of improvement in consideration of the after-action report. (Page 40)

1. Gaps in equipment, staffing, and communication regarding:

Snow removal tools and resources
Tracking resource requests within the Emergency Operations Center
Staffing and transportation for Emergency Shelter activation

2. Needed investments for strengthening future storm response regarding:

Advanced hotel and transportation planning
Wraparound service provision for the Emergency Shelter
Continued training for equipment operators and investments in equipment storage.

3. Supporting community preparedness regarding

Proactive signage discouraging skating on frozen park lakes
Additional coordination with local organizations to support shelter activity
Increased communication with people experiencing homelessness