After the Storm: The Slow Road to Normalcy

Update (6:58 p.m.): Federal offices in the Washington area will be open Monday, according to Arlington County government. Federal employees have the option of using unscheduled leave or working from home.

Original story (4:02 p.m.): Life in Arlington continued its gradual trek back to normal on Sunday — though some residents could be without power for a week and storm debris cleanup is expected to take two weeks.

The following cooling centers were operational Sunday, many of them expanding their hours of operation into the night:

• , 1101 Wilson Blvd. (until 11 p.m.)
• Walter Reed Community Center, 2909 16th St. S. (until 11 p.m.)
• , 1015 N. Quincy St. (until 11 p.m.)
• Shirlington Library, 4200 Campbell Ave. (until 11 p.m.)
• Pentagon City Mall (until 6 p.m.)
• Ballston Common Mall (until 6 p.m.)

Arlington County spokeswoman Diana Sun stated that WiFi was working at Artisphere, Walter Reed, and Central and Shirlington libraries.

Further, swimming pools at Wakefield, Washington-Lee and Yorktown high schools opened Sunday.

Sunday afternoon, about 42,000 households in Arlington County remained without power — down in the wake of Friday night's derecho. The fast-moving, aggressive storm downed trees, left more than 1 million without power in the greater Washington metro area and .

The county continues to indicate it will take "a number of days" before power is fully restored. Dominion Vice President Rodney Blevins has said it could be a full week before 100 percent of outages are restored in Northern Virginia.

The massive lost of power brought people out in droves to businesses that were able to open — people looking for food, for air-conditioning, for an electrical outlet to charge a phone or laptop, for Internet access, or all of the above.

"It was busy plus a little bit more," said Kyle Pool, manager of in Courthouse. "We didn't lose power, but we definitely heard a lot of folks coming in because they didn't have it. Every electrical outlet we have in the restaurant was hooked up to a cell phone."

Sunday afternoon, 53 traffic signals remained out of service — down from about 80 that didn't work immediately following the storm. About 24 streets remained blocked. The Arlington County Police Department brought in extra officers to help with traffic control, though motorists are advised to treat every non-working traffic signal as if it were a four-way stop.

Trash and recycling services will operate on a normal schedule during the upcoming holiday week, along with extra ongoing brush and storm debris collection, according to a county new release.

"Crews will focus on clearing blocked roads first and then will go house-to-house based on the trash collection schedule. There is no need to schedule collection," the release states.

Collection will continue until the storm debris can be managed with normal trash pickup, according to the county. The debris cleanup effort is expected to take two weeks.

Report power outages to Dominion at 866-366-4357.

Report downed trees to Arlington County at 703-228-6525.

seems to have improved. County officials continue to ask residents to call 911 only in the case of an actual emergency — and, if you are unable to reach the call center, go to any Arlington County fire station.

For more cleanup and emergency contact information, check the county's "After the Storm" page.