Isabel Forces D.C. To Close Shop

Closures, Disappointed Tourists In Capital Ahead Of Isabel's Arrival

(CBS/AP)  Normally bustling, the capital's monuments, offices and subway tunnels were all but abandoned Thursday as the federal government largely shut down for Hurricane Isabel.

Subway and bus systems stopped picking up passengers for the day at 11 a.m. Schools closed. Both houses of Congress went through the formality of meeting, but few lawmakers were around. The sessions were short; the House adjourned after about 5 minutes.

A few tourists tried to get in some sightseeing before the weather turned nasty. Some were surprised that the monuments and museums were closed, and that the subway already had stopped running when winds were calm and only sprinkles of rain were falling.

"I think it's a little overkill," said Sandra de Dubovay, who was visiting from the Los Angeles area. "Some people only have a day here. It is frustrating."

In and around the nation's capital, preserving history is a top priority. Robert E. Lee's mansion at Arlington National Cemetery is boarded up tight for the first time since 1937, reports CBS News Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson.

Across the street from the Washington Monument, workers shored up the World War Two Memorial, under construction.

Saving the animals is "job one" at the National Zoo. Banners came down, protective walls went up and some of the animals were brought inside -- including the bald eagles.

Zookeepers say other animals, like the wolves and the sea lions, are capable of fending for themselves against the elements.

Along the Potomac River the flood walls were raised, and in low-lying Alexandria, Virginia they're hoping sandbags will keep flood waters at bay.

The continuous guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier stayed stoic throughout the day. It's unknown as to whether the guard will pack it in at some point.

The decision to shut down the subway and bus systems came Wednesday and had a ripple effect. Federal, state and local governments and private businesses then decided to stay closed Thursday rather than have workers take public transportation in the morning only to be left stranded at work in the afternoon.

The decision to shut the federal government - a move affecting about 350,000 workers - was made in "an abundance of caution," said a spokesman for the Office of Personnel Management. "Essential" workers were on the job for emergencies.

Taking buses and subways out of service was strictly a safety issue, said Cheryl Johnson, spokeswoman for Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

"We did not want anyone to be out in the area with these anticipated high winds because they could be blown into the path of a bus, a train, or debris could hit them," she said.

More than half of the region's 103-mile rail system is either at surface level or is elevated. There are about 340 bus routes, with a fleet of more than 1,400 buses.

"You have to make a decision on the best information at the time," Johnson said. "Weather forecasting is not an exact science."

One benefit was that people who did have to work and drove faced a much easier commute than normal.

While tourists hoping to go to the top of the Washington Monument were clearly disappointed that it was not open, many took the city's shuttering in stride.

An entourage of South Korean government workers, whose meetings in Washington were canceled because of the weather, toured the Supreme Court before it closed at 2 p.m.

Hwan-Kee Paik, who works for the South Korean Embassy, tried to put the best face on the situation.

"They have a rare opportunity to meet a hurricane," he said. "It's a very good experience."

Laurie Dunnell of Enoch, Utah, said she and her family were upset about not getting to take their tour of the White House. Then again, she'd never been in a hurricane before.

"This will be something to see," she said.

At the White House, Mr. Bush received a briefing about the approaching hurricane and spoke with officials about ways to ensure coordination among state, federal and local governments to assess damage and provide assistance.

He then flew to the Camp David presidential retreat in the Maryland mountains Wednesday evening, a day early than planned, to beat the storm.

Aides scrambled to rearrange meetings scheduled for Friday with King Abdullah II of Jordan at the presidential retreat. Mr. Bush, joined by the king at a joint news conference Thursday, had some good-humored fun with the storm.

“We'll have a nice lunch and then we'll batten down the hatches and spend a good evening with our friend,” the president said.

Mr. Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, who rode out the storm with the president at the secluded retreat, said jokingly, “I look at al l these trees and think: is this a good place to be?”

CBS News White House Correspondent Peter Maer reports that the White House itself had its hatches battened.

Crews from the White House Usher's office - the folks in charge of maintaining the building and keeping first families happy - rushed to take down scaffolding from ongoing paint projects.

Construction crews also buttoned down equipment and compacted loose soil as the storm approached. The first family's lawn furniture was brought indoors.

The Usher's office said it won't board up windows or take any other major precautions. There is no recent history of flooding in the lower level of the White House. The building has stood the test of time.

In a related development, the Air Force moved one of the president's 747s from its home at Andrews Air Force Base in suburban Maryland to Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins, Ga., White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said.

A smaller 757 sometimes used by the president also was sent to Georgia, she said. A twin of the 747 was already at another base for maintenance, Buchan said. Air Force One is the designation of any plane the president chooses to use at any given time.

The headquarters of the U.S. Postal Service closed around noon, but officials said all carriers in the Washington area, as well as other afected areas, had gone out early and were being sent home for safety reasons.

At the Pentagon, across the Potomac River from Washington, staffing was minimal with only essential workers on duty for the Department of Defense.

At the Labor Department, the cavernous lobby was empty — although uniformed guards were still on duty standing watch. The normally bustling cafeteria was closed. The day care center was dark and the post office branch located in the building was shuttered.

At the Treasury Department next to the White House, office doors were shut and the lights were off. Some people who came to work anyhow wore casual clothes — shorts or jeans, sneakers, rain slickers — as opposed to the traditional dark blue suits usually seen in the halls. And the sidewalk scene amounted to The Long March of Umbrellas.