Snow shuts down campus, Oakland

The city and the university remain at a virtual halt today, after last night’s snowstorm… The city and the university remain at a virtual halt today, after last night’s snowstorm caused the county to declare a disaster emergency.

Pitt spokesman John Fedele announced just before midnight that Pitt was canceling all of its Saturday classes due to the weather conditions.

Only one Port Authority bus route is working this morning. Buses on one route, the EBA-East Busway, is providing service between Swissvale and Penn Station. The bus won’t go Downtown.

The T, the 42S South Hills Village via Beechview and 47S South Hills Village via Overbrook routes are running. Jim Ritchie, a spokesman for the Port Authority, said the company will provide updates on its website, www.portauthority.org, and its Twitter feed, twitter.com/pghtransit.

Both the Pittsburgh International Airport and Allegheny County airport have suspended all flights until further notice.

The announcements came a few hours before the county declared a disaster emergency, at 6:30 a.m. The declaration lets the county bypass standard approval procedures to hire temporary workers, rent equipment and purchase extra supplies needed to clear the snow. It also lets the county request state and federal aid.

About 85,000 people in the county didn’t have power as of 10:45 a.m. Oakland residents without power should contact Duquesne Light, at 1-888-393-7000.

The county reminded people to call 911 only in emergencies, because the call volume is especially high now.