Winter Storm Minaj

Winter Storm Minaj is a major weather event that impacted Kitania in September 2015. 11 meters of snow was left on Kitania as far west as the West Transit Center, virtually shutting the city down.

History

The storm was first discovered on Sunday, September 13th by a KIA radar tracking activity south of the world border near Kitania. The winter storm, comparable in size to Winter Storm Anaconda, was heading directly towards Kitania. Immediately it was publicly announced and the city began to make preparations.

On Thursday, September 17th, transportation services began to be suspended. Highways were closed for inbound traffic, and the KTA suspended express service in the Kitania Metro. The next day, on Friday at 6 PM EDT, all intercity transportation centers were closed, most of the metro was closed except for limited service to Void Zone, and KTA Commuter Rail service was suspended. Three hours later, at 9 PM EDT, the entire metro was closed, all KTA local and express bus service was suspended, and all roads to Kitania were closed in both directions.

Overnight the storm froze water within Kitania as the temperature dropped low. Then, snow began to fall. By Saturday morning, the storm had dumped 11 meters of snow on the city from eastern Kitania to the West Transit Center. Most buildings were rendered completely invisible, buried under several layers of snow, with a few buildings sticking out. Westside and Seabright were unaffected by the storm.

The KTA began to restore limited metro service, beginning with the unaffected neighborhoods of Westside and Seabright. The  10 LINE  was the first line to be fully restored. Service within Westside between Westside Road and Jerry Bieber Avenue, normally provided by the  7 LINE , was provided by a temporary shuttle. Another temporary shuttle later ran along the tracks of the  5 LINE  between Void Zone, where an underground shelter was present, and Bus Complex West. Due to the snow, a temporary lift had to be made at the entrance to the Bus Complex West metro station to reach the level above the snow.

Later on, the KTA began to restore service on underground lines only. Several lines remained suspended while other lines were rerouted and temporary shuttles came into service. One challenge in restoring service was that Kitania Space Center station is a ground-level station, and a key link between eastern and western Kitania on the metro. The  8 LINE  was therefore running on a modified route, via the  7 LINE  between Westside Road and Jerry Bieber Avenue, then nonstop along its normal route, bypassing Kitania Space Center, and underground via the  3 LINE  to Restaurant District West.

On November 6th, the snow was eventually removed from Kitania, and the city recovered from the event. The KTA restored normal metro, bus, and commuter rail service, transit centers reopened, and roads reopened