Storms Leave Damage, Thousands Without Power

By Meghan Louttit (Contact), Tim Richardson

Originally published at 5:15 a.m., June 4, 2008
Updated at 10:07 p.m., June 4, 2008

More than one-third of Dominion Virginia Power's customers in Loudoun County were without power Wednesday night as severe storms barreled through the region.

Dominion spokeswoman Le-Ha Anderson said about 33,770 customers were without electricity in Loudoun out of a total of about 97,000 customers in the county. The lights could be out for a couple more days.

"Based on what we know so far, we're looking at Friday night being the final restoration night," she said Wednesday evening.

The outages weren't concentrated in any particular area, but were widespread across the county, Anderson said. About 278,500 electricity customers were without power throughout all of Northern Virginia.

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Severe Storms Rock Loudoun

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Police direct traffic at the intersection of West Market Street and North King Street in Leesburg during a power outage Wednesday afternoon caused by severe storms. (Tracy A. Woodward)

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High winds and rain swept through the Broadlands area along Southern Walk Plaza on Wednesday. (Tracy A. Woodward)

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A pedestrian runs for cover at the Broadlands Shopping Center as a second wave of storms moved over Loudoun. (Tracy A. Woodward)

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Storms decreased visibilities for motorists Wednesday along Belmont Ridge Road in Ashburn. (Tracy A. Woodward)

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A second wave of storms was beginning to pass over Loudoun County on Wednesday. This view is along Sycolin Road just off Belmont Ridge Road in Ashburn. (Tracy A. Woodward)

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Sterling resident Sam Ruedinger and her dog, Pretty, enjoyed the sun Thursday at Algonkian Regional Park. Ruedinger said that Pretty loves the heat. "She actually loves to sunbathe," she said. (Rachael Dickson)

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The storm was blamed for equipment damage at 892 sites across Northern Virginia. Of those, 98 are in Loudoun. Anderson said many of the damaged sites will require multiple crews to complete repairs.

"This was a very major storm," she said. "This was not your average thunderstorm that you deal with on a hot summer afternoon."

At Dulles International Airport, winds whipped up to 59 mph. The airport recorded 2 inches of rain from Tuesday evening to Wednesday night, with the heaviest rain falling in the 7 p.m. hour Wednesday.

"It was in and it was out fairly quickly," said Carl Erickson, a meteorologist for AccuWeather. "But the winds that accompanied it were fairly severe. If you were driving, the rain came down so hard, visibility was down near zero."

Loudoun County Public Schools released students about 15 to 20 minutes late Wednesday afternoon because of the inclement weather. Loudoun Valley High School and Park View High School canceled all after-school activities because both schools lost power.

Courtesy National Weather Service

Radar image of severe storms as they made their way through parts of Loudoun County and Washington's western suburbs Wednesday afternoon.

A tornado watch was posted for Loudoun County and the entire Washington region through 1 a.m. Thursday. The National Weather Service office in Sterling issued a brief tornado warning shortly before 3 p.m. for parts of Loudoun after a funnel cloud was reported near Middleburg south of Ashburn.

One person died in Annandale in Fairfax County when a tree fell on top of a moving vehicle, police said.

Loudoun emergency management officials reported that trees were downed as a result of strong winds in the Round Hill and Philomont areas. Thunderstorms also downed trees at about 2:45 p.m. in the Gilberts Corner area of Loudoun.

Sheriff's deputies directed traffic and hauled branches from the roadways throughout the county.

"We have a ton of trees down, a ton of traffic lights out," Loudoun County Sheriff's Office spokesman Kraig Troxell said.

Officials said most of the power outages were the result of trees and tree limbs falling onto power lines.

Elsewhere in the region, a trained weather service spotter reported that a tornado touched down at 3:05 p.m. in the Falls Church area along Annandale Road.

Just south of Loudoun in Fauquier County, a roof was blown off a house, power lines were down and a possible funnel cloud was spotted near Delaplane.

The sheriff's office said the following roads were blocked by downed trees and utility poles on Wednesday:

-- Route 15 near Lucketts Elementary School

-- Meadowlark Drive at Irene Road in Hamilton

-- River Creek Parkway at Teaberry Drive in Leesburg

-- Dickenson Avenue near Almey Court in Sterling

-- Algonkian Parkway near Millwood Square in Sterling

-- Lincoln Avenue near Beech Road in Sterling

-- Braddock Road and Sousa Place in Aldie

Travel also became difficult for motorists traveling west into Clarke County.

Loudoun authorities said Route 7 was closed in both directions in Clarke County because of downed power lines. Westbound traffic was being rerouted onto Blue Ridge Mountain Road.

Power outages also caused traffic lights to go out at these intersections:

-- Route 7 at Potomac View Road

-- Route 7 at Cascades Parkway

-- Gum Spring Road and Route 50

-- Charles Town Pike and Hillsboro Road

The sheriff's office warned that any intersection where the traffic signals have gone out must be treated as a four-way stop.

The storms were the product of a stalled front over the mid-Atlantic that will stick around through late Thursday.

A 30 percent chance of rain is forecast for Thursday with the high reaching about 88 degrees. Friday should be mostly sunny and dry with a high near 93. The weekend also should be sunny with highs in the 90s.

The average high on today's date at Dulles airport is 80 degrees, according to weather service records.

The Washington Post contributed to this report.

Tagged: weather

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