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TRAFFIC ALERT: Columbia Pike Blocked Due to Low Wires

Update at 8:50 a.m. — Traffic has resumed flowing in both directions as firefighters were able to secure the line. At least one lane remains blocked.

Earlier: A quick-moving line of storms that packed gusty winds pushed through Arlington during the morning rush hour, downing some trees and utility lines.

The biggest impact thus far is on Columbia Pike, which is blocked at S. Taylor Street by a low-hanging wire.

Drivers should expect significant delays and detours between Four Mile Run Drive and S. George Mason Drive.

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TRAFFIC ALERT: Snapped Utility Pole Blocks Lee Highway

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(Updated at 12:20 p.m.) All lanes of Lee Highway appear to be blocked after a utility pole reportedly snapped and caused wires to fall across the street.

The incident happened around 9 a.m, just east of the East Falls Church neighborhood. The broken pole was not believed to have been caused by a crash, Arlington County Fire Department spokesman Capt. Ben O’Bryant told ARLnow.

A detour is in place between N. Ohio Street and N. Quantico Street, though minor delays should be expected. The detour is expected to remain in place for an extended period of time as utility crews work to repair the pole and downed lines.

Arlington County officials said only the westbound lanes were closed, though photos show the road closed in both directions.

Dominion’s power outage map reports 7 customers without power in the area.

Photos courtesy @mgnchny/Twitter, map via Google Maps

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Glebe Road Remains Closed, Thousands Still Without Power After Storm

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Arlington still is not fully recovered from yesterday’s severe thunderstorm, which packed winds near 70 miles an hour and left a trail of destruction in its wake.

N. Glebe Road remains closed between Route 50 and N. Quincy Street in Ballston, as crews continue to work to clear fallen trees, replace splintered utility poles and re-string power lines. It’s a similar story on N. Barton Street between 10th and 12th streets, in the Clarendon area, which is still closed nearly 18 hours after the storm despite.

In Arlington County, as of 9:15 a.m., about 6,400 Dominion customers were still without power — down from an outage peak of about 36,000 customers. The largest remaining outages are in and around the Rosslyn-Ballston and Lee Highway corridors.

Police say the county’s 911 call center received a total of 48 calls for trees down and 39 calls for wires down after the storm. The call center received 130 calls in the first half hour after the storm alone, according to the fire department.

Police and firefighters — as well as Dept. of Environmental Services, Dominion and other utility crews — all worked overnight to restore power and services, mark off and clear downed trees and wires, and direct traffic around closures and non-functioning traffic signals.

More via social media:

https://twitter.com/ArlingtonVaPD/status/1131895351693271042

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BREAKING: Trees, Wires Down and Power Out After Tornado Warning

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Update at 8:40 p.m. — Closures along Lee Highway and N. Glebe Road, among others, are expected to remain in place into the morning rush hour, according to Arlington Alert.

Update at 7 p.m. — Lee Highway is blocked at N. Nottingham Street, just west of the District Taco, due to a downed tree, according to scanner traffic. Reported power outages are down to about 28,500 in Arlington.

Update at 6 p.m. — Power outages in Arlington have reached a new peak of 35,719 customers, per Dominion’s website. Firefighters, meanwhile, are continue to respond to numerous reports of trees and wires down on houses — and across sidewalks and roadways — as well as a number of vehicle crashes. A tree is reported down on a car at the intersection of N. Kennebec Street and 11th Road N. in the Westover neighborhood, according to the National Weather Service.

Update at 5:20 p.m. — Dark traffic signals is causing gridlock on local roads. A Google traffic map shows significant delays, particularly around the Ballston area. Arlington Public Schools and Arlington Transit buses are reported to be delayed due to heavy traffic.

Video recently posted of the storm arriving in Ballston shows a transformer explosion.

Update at 4:55 p.m. — Dominion has posted the following message on its website about the storm recovery.

Dominion Energy’s northern region has been impacted by severe thunderstorms, which included 70 mph wind gusts and lightning. These locations are the most impacted:

  • Alexandria
  • Fairfax
  • Woodbridge
  • Springfield
  • Leesburg
  • Fredericksburg

Customers have reported several spans of wire, trees and tree limbs down on the ground and over roadways.

We are still getting impacted by this line of storms. Our crews are working as quickly and as safely as possible to restore power. As soon as we are able to do a thorough assessment of the damages, we will be able to establish an estimated time of restoration.

Please stay back from all downed wires or damaged equipment, and call us immediately to report these damages at 1-866-DOM-HELP or 1-866-366-4357. You may also report power outages online by clicking here. If using a generator, please follow your manufacturer’s guidelines to operate it safely.

We appreciate your patience.

Dominion Energy

Update at 4:50 p.m — Due to the extensive storm damage, some parts of Arlington are not expected to have their power restored for hours. Dominion’s map shows the estimated restoration time for some large outages as 5-10 p.m., while others do not have an estimated time of restoration. N. Glebe Road is expected to remain closed south of Ballston, near 4th Street N., for about 12 hours per an Arlington Alert.

Volunteer firefighters have started responding to some calls to help work down the fire department’s backlog, per scanner traffic. Among the calls handled by ACFD are numerous stuck elevators, caused by power outages; several people were just freed from a stuck elevator at Don Tito’s in Clarendon, per scanner traffic.

Update at 4:35 p.m. — Dominion is now reporting just under 35,000 customers without power in Arlington. Among the neighborhoods without power is a large portion of residential north Arlington; several neighborhoods along Columbia Pike; most of Clarendon, Virginia Square and Ballston; Shirlington and Fairlington; and Aurora Highlands and Arlington Ridge.  

Updated at 4:20 p.m. — Photos from the scene show extensive storm damage to trees and power lines on N. Glebe Road south of Ballston. Police have requested additional units to the area for crowd control. Arlington’s 911 call center is “slammed” with calls and police have a 20-call backlog, per scanner traffic.

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Morning Notes

Police Searching for I-66 Wrong-Way Driver — Police are still looking for the driver who crashed into another vehicle while driving the wrong way on I-66 near Rosslyn early Sunday morning, after being chased by a uniformed Secret Service officer who spotted the car driving the wrong way in D.C. [Fox 5, WTOP, Twitter]

Vehicle Crashes into House in Barcroft — A vehicle that was driven into the side of a house in the Barcroft neighborhood Sunday morning caused only minor damage to the building, according to the fire department. [Twitter]

Truck Brings Down Power Lines in Long Branch Creek — “Downed power lines caused around 1,000 customers to lose power in Arlington County on Saturday. Dominion Power said a truck ‘snagged’ the lines and broke two of the power poles around 8:15 a.m. It also damaged some vehicles in the area.” [WJLA]

Runner Struck By Car Hopes to Run Marathon — A local runner who was struck by a car while running recently hopes to run the Marine Corps Marathon in the fall despite suffering two broken bones in her foot. [Twitter]

Projects to Transform Crystal City — Six major transportation projects “will play a significant role in transforming the Crystal City area in the coming years.” [Bisnow]

Arlington Teens Arrested in Ocean City — Three teens from Arlington were arrested in Ocean City, Maryland after they pulled over to ask police officers about parking in the area and the officers “immediately recognized the strong odor of marijuana emanating from the vehicle.” They searched the car and found “roughly a half a pound of marijuana along with prescription drugs, methamphetamine, brass knuckles, an assisted opening knife and several items of drug paraphernalia,” plus “a full face mask in the vehicle [and] a .25 caliber handgun.” [The Dispatch]

Dems Still Distributing Print Newsletter — Print may be waning as a medium, but the Arlington County Democratic Committee is still going all-in on its printed campaign newsletter, “The Messenger.” The party is recruiting more than 400 volunteers to distribute the newsletter to homes throughout the county. [InsideNova]

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BREAKING: Glebe Road Closed After Car Strikes Pole

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N. Glebe Road is closed in both directions after a car struck and shattered a utility pole, bringing wires down.

The collision took place just after 11:30 a.m. today (Tuesday) on the 3700 block of N. Glebe Road in the Old Glebe neighborhood. The driver of a white car struck the pole while heading south, then veered across into the northbound lanes. The car was left with significant damage to its front end.

Officers from the Arlington County Police Department closed N. Glebe Road in both directions and diverted traffic onto side streets. In a tweet, the Arlington County Fire Department said closures will be in effect for an “extended time.”

No injuries were reported. Several dozen Dominion customers in the area are currently without power, according to the company’s outage map. Crews from Dominion arrived on scene to assess the damage around noon.

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TRAFFIC ALERT: Downed Utility Lines Close Section of Columbia Pike

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A section of Columbia Pike closed in both directions for downed utility lines lying in the roadway.

The Pike closed to all traffic between S. Randolph Street and S. George Mason Drive, with police diverting cars onto side streets. A reader said the lines came down around 2:30 p.m. Thursday (July 15) at the intersection of Columbia Pike and S. George Mason Drive.

Crews from both Verizon and Comcast were on scene to fix the downed lines. According to scanner traffic, some lanes began to reopen just after 4:15 p.m.

Drivers in the area should expect continued delays as lanes reopen.

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TRAFFIC ALERT: Downed Power Lines Close Patrick Henry Drive

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Updated 11:30 a.m. — Police have reopened Patrick Henry Drive.

Earlier: Emergency crews have closed part of Patrick Henry Drive in the Dominion Hills neighborhood due to downed power lines.

Patrick Henry Drive is closed between 9th Street N. and 9th Road N. where the live wires fell into the road just after 9:30 a.m.

A police officer at the scene confirmed that a truck or similarly high vehicle pulled down the power lines, which are laying in the roadway.

Workers from Dominion Virginia Power are on the way to the scene, but they had not arrived as of 10 a.m. Drivers should seek alternate routes.

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TRAFFIC ALERT: Downed Power Line Closes N. Glebe Road

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Update at 8:40 p.m. — Glebe Road remains closed in both directions. Multiple Dominion units continue to repair the downed wires. Police officers at the scene couldn’t say how much longer the road will be closed, but they guessed it could easily be another hour.

Earlier: Emergency crews have closed part of N. Glebe Road north of Marymount University due to a downed power wire.

Police and fire crews are on the scene and have shut down N. Glebe Road between Williamsburg Blvd and Dittmar Road.

Emergency crews are waiting for Dominion Virginia Power to repair the line.

A police spokesperson says responders are investigating a leaning tree at the scene. There’s no word yet on whether the tree may have caused the power lines to topple.

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Old Dominion Drive Blocked Due to Downed Lines

Old Dominion Drive is being shut down in both directions in the area of N. Wakefield Street and Lee Highway due to downed utility lines.

A truck brought down the lines and damaged at least one utility pole in the process.

An extended closure is possible and may make “a mess” of the evening rush hour, according to police radio traffic.

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Car Knocks Down Pole, Runs into Apartment Building in Buckingham

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A serious-looking crash temporarily closed N. George Mason Drive this afternoon, but no serious injuries were reported.

The incident happened around 3:30 p.m., just north of the intersection of N. George Mason Drive and Pershing Drive, in the Buckingham neighborhood.

A driver in a car somehow knocked over a light pole in the center median of George Mason Drive, then drove over a sidewalk and up an embankment before running into a two-story brick apartment building.

The building was not significantly damaged. George Mason Drive was closed while a tow truck driver maneuvered and used a chain to pull the car from the embankment and back onto the street. The road has since reopened.

A second vehicle that was reported to be involved in the crash was pulled over by police one block away from the accident scene.

In a separate incident that happened around the same time, the top of a utility pole with live wires snapped and fell down in the Lyon Village neighborhood, prompting several street closures. From Arlington Alerts:

Due to a pole with wires down the following streets are closed until further notice: Key Blvd at Fillmore, closed on Fillmore; Edgewood at Highland, closed on Highland N; 18/Harvard with no access NB; and Key at Highland with no access NB. Please seek alternate routes for this area.

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