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The D.C. region continues to recover after a severe storm ripped through the area on Saturday, toppling trees, and knocking out power for thousands across the area. Here’s what you need to know.
- Traffic Impact: Parts of the George Washington Memorial Parkway are closed Monday as crews remove trees, branches and other debris from the road — and the closure could last most of the week.
- Current Outages: As of Monday afternoon, power outages continue for around 4,000 Pepco customers in Maryland and D.C.; about 1,700 Dominion Energy customers in Northern Virginia and 1,200 total BGE customers in Maryland.
Cleanup to close George Washington Parkway for days
Part of the George Washington Parkway has been shuttered as crews work to clear trees and other debris that have fallen across the roadway.
The parkway between Spout Run Parkway and the Capital Beltway remains closed — except for the northbound lanes from Route 123 to the Beltway, the National Park Service said in a news release Monday afternoon. The southbound lanes are blocked between the Beltway and Roosevelt Bridge, including the southbound lanes of Spout Run Parkway.
Drivers should plan ahead: The park service said it could take three to four days to clear the road.
The closure is the same part of the parkway that is undergoing a long-term rehab project.
WTOP Traffic reporter Dave Dildine said the high winds damaged trees in the long-term work zone where traffic control devices will possibly need to be inspected.
The extended closure of the parkway is further complicated by the parallel closure of Canal Road in D.C. — because of downed trees and wires — since the two work as a pair, Dildine said.
Drivers headed to and from the Chain Bridge are still encountering roadblocks on Canal Road and the northern part of Arizona Avenue near Loughboro Road where damage from the storm was most extreme. Like the GW Parkway, it could take days to reopen those roads, Dildine said.
Parts of MacArthur Boulevard are also closed for emergency utility work near Glen Echo.
Foxhall Road and Massachusetts Avenue are both open as of early Monday afternoon.
You can see a map of other road closures in D.C. on an interactive map released by District officials.
Where outages stand
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser toured some of the hardest-hit areas of Northwest D.C. Monday afternoon along with officials with Pepco.
As of Monday afternoon, Pepco had restored power for about 90% of customers, said Pepco’s Valencia McClure, during a news conference.
At the height of the outages, McClure said about 70,000 Pepco customers across the region were without power.
Of the total remaining Pepco outages, about 1,800 of them are in D.C., concentrated in Northwest neighborhoods of Palisades, Foxhall Village and American University Park, McClure said.
She asked for patience as crews continued to work to restore power and said Pepco expects to have power restored for all customers by 3 p.m. Tuesday.
In Virginia, Dominion Energy spokesperson Peggy Fox said on Twitter crews are continuing to work Monday to make repairs following Saturday’s “ferocious storm,” which caused “catastrophic damage” to the utility system. She said the goal is to restore power to all customers by Monday night.
Memories of 2012 derecho
The storm was marked by powerful winds, including one monster gust recorded at George Washington University’s Mount Vernon campus in Foxhall Village that notched a whopping 84 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
“We saw some pretty significant damage to a couple of houses and vehicles,” Bowser told reporters. “We were able to talk to some residents who were in their homes during the storm, and were pretty terrified by it.”
She added, “Sometimes when we hear numbers, we can’t appreciate it … I don’t really know what it means to be 85 mph. But it takes down some pretty significant trees.”
Christopher Rodriguez, director of the D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, said the storm brought back memories of the devastating 2012 derecho.
He said the “extreme heat” that brought dangerously high temperatures to the D.C. area last week combined with a cold front approaching from the west and the extreme humidity in the air, which caused a downburst.
“What happens is a lot of wind and a lot of rain hit the ground very fast,” he said.
The storms very rapidly sprang up, he said. As of 2 p.m. Saturday, the radar was showing “absolutely no systems in the area,” Rodriguez said. By shortly after 4 p.m., the winds were howling and dumping buckets of rain.
Virginia authorities investigate death
In D.C., Rodriguez said there were two reported injuries from the storm but both people appear to be recovering. He did not provide any other details on their conditions.
Authorities in Prince William County, Virginia, say they are investigating the death of a man Saturday evening as possibly related to the severe weather.
Police said Kenneth Allan Lee Jr, 44, was inside his residence on Holly Hills Drive in Dumfries when a tree fell on the home. Other family members were inside the home at the time but were not hurt. Police said they are waiting on an autopsy by the medical examiner’s office to determine the cause of the death.
Officials with the utilities, local governments and emergency services are also discouraging residents from making the risky decision to approach any downed power lines.
A full day of cleanup
WTOP’s Neal Augenstein reported that there were utility cables hanging in some places and metal fences in addition to fallen trees and power outages in McLean, Virginia and Northwest D.C.
As a result, the cleanup is expected to last the whole day as crews will have to cut up and remove trees, along with repairing the wires.
“Repairs this large will take time and unfortunately patience,” Augenstein said, adding that a lot of people will “probably be in touch with their insurance companies.”
Additional closures
Due to a “limited power outage” affecting its Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus, the P1, P2, P3 and CM buildings at Montgomery College will be closed on Monday. School officials said in a statement employees in the four affected buildings will work remotely and students should check with their instructors for alternate arrangements.
