Storm Leaves Thousands of Arlington Residents Without Power

South Arlington and the city of Alexandria took the brunt of a fast-moving storm Friday night that, at its peak, left 38,000 people without power in Northern Virginia.

Late Friday, the hardest hit area seemed to be near Barcroft Park — the area between Columbia Pike and Interstate 395, roughly between Four Mile Run Drive and King Street.

Dominion reported 13 cross arms were broken on utility poles there, causing a tangled mess of downed wires and leaving much of the surrounding area in the dark.

The epicenter of the damage was in the area of South Columbus Street and South Chesterfield Road. Power company crews were physically carrying equipment in to work on the situation, as the roads were not accessible by vehicles.

"That was a pretty powerful storm that came through, lots of lightning," spokeswoman Le-Ha Anderson told Patch. "Some of our equipment was struck by lightning."

Some traffic signals in the worst-hit area went dark, prompting Arlington police to assist with traffic. Motorists are advised to treat such intersections as four-way stops.

Shortly after 9 p.m. Friday, nearly 4,000 customers in Arlington County remained without power. Dominion had dispatched crews earlier in the day to begin assessing damage; workers from unaffected areas have been called in to assist them in what was expected to be a long, busy night.
by 3 a.m. Saturday, the number of people without power was down to just 1,300 customers without power in Arlington.

Anderson said the power company wasn't sure how long it would be before everyone's electricity is fully restored — so expect crowds at coffee shops and cafes, or generally anywhere that offers Wi-Fi, a power outlet, or both.

"What we do know is that we will be working into the night and into tomorrow," Anderson said Friday.

The storm downed seven trees, according to county officials. No storm-related injuries had been reported as of Friday night.

The National Weather Service forecasts varying chances of showers and thunderstorms every day in Arlington through the Fourth of July, which is Thursday.

This weekend is expected to be hot and humid, and so Arlington County will have several facilities open in case residents need somewhere to cool off. Those include the Fairlington Community Center (closed Sunday), Walter Reed Community Center, Columbia Pike Library, Shirlington Library, Aurora Hills Library (closed Sunday) and Central Library.

Anderson urged residents to call and report their outages, even if they think their neighbor or someone on their block already had.

"The more people who call, the better we narrow down where the damage is," she said.

Phone numbers to keep handy:

• Dominion: 866-DOM-HELP
• Trees down: 703-228-6525
• Street flooding: 703-228-6555
• Emergencies: 911
• Arlington County non-emergency number: 703-558-2222