A woman died this morning after jumping from the Columbia Pike bridge over Four Mile Run.
Several witnesses saw the woman jump, around 10:30 a.m. She landed on a paved section of the Four Mile Run Trail and was pronounced dead on the scene.
So far, the county is not putting any restrictions on trick or treating. County staff is urging parents, however, to use their best judgment to keep children out of harm’s way in neighborhoods particularly hard hit by the storm.
“We all hope that the weather will improve quickly and that we can all get back to normal as quickly as possible,” said Arlington County Director of Communications Diana Sun. “I sincerely hope that there are no disappointments for all the young people looking forward to tomorrow evening.”
An elderly man is dead after becoming trapped during a fire in his apartment in the 2900 block of S. Buchanan Street in Fairlington.
According to Arlington County Fire Department spokesman Capt. Gregg Karl, smoke was coming from the top level apartment when crews arrived on the scene. Capt. Karl said because the investigation has just begun, it’s unclear exactly what started the fire and whether the man died from burns or smoke inhalation.
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Superstorm Sandy — nee Hurricane Sandy — brought heavy rain and fierce winds to Arlington Monday night and early Tuesday morning.
Arlington was “spared the worst of the storm’s impact,” according to county officials, but Sandy and her 60 mph wind gusts knocked down dozens of trees across the county, many of which fell onto roadways and into houses.
Schools, Gov’t Offices Closed Today — Arlington Public Schools are closed today for all classes and activities. All Arlington County offices, libraries, courts, schools, community centers and nature centers are closed. Federal government offices are also closed. ART bus service has been suspended for the day and Metro bus and rail service has been suspended for at least the morning.
Candidates Night Canceled — A local candidates debate scheduled for tonight at 7:00 has been cancelled. The debate was to be held at Resurrection Lutheran Church (6201 Washington Blvd) and was sponsored by a number of north Arlington civic association. In lieu of the debate, an informal candidate meet and greet may be held, weather permitting, at the Westover Beer Garden (5863 Washington Blvd) at 7:00 p.m. [Facebook]
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Update at 7:25 p.m. — The number of Dominion customers without power in Arlington is up to 16,828.
(Updated at 6:10 p.m.) More than 5,800 Dominion customers are without power in Arlington as of 6:05 p.m. as the strongest winds from Hurricane Sandy have started to arrive in the area.
This afternoon Metro announced that bus and rail service will remain suspended Tuesday morning due to the impacts of Hurricane Sandy.
Metrorail and Metrobus service will not resume service Tuesday morning. An announcement on when service may be restored will be made after Metro is able to assess damage and weather conditions in the morning. Metro personnel will need to perform a comprehensive damage assessment, including inspections of track, bridges, aerial structures, stations and facilities. Metrorail service restoration is also contingent on adequate commercial power to support operations and repair of any storm-related damage. For Metrobus, service restoration will vary by route and depend on road conditions.
Reagan National Airport has “canceled operations until further notice due to Hurricane Sandy,” according to a media alert from the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.
The MWAA says the last flight out of DCA departed for Atlanta, Ga. at 9:00 this morning.
County officials compared the dangerous conditions Arlington will experience over the next 24 hours to the heavy winds of the June 29 derecho, which lasted 24 minutes.
Already some power problems and falling trees and power lines have been reported. Dominion reported 423 customers without power in Arlington earlier this afternoon, but power has since been restored to most. Firefighters are currently on the scene of a large tree that fell on to a house on the 2900 block of N. Oxford Street, in the Bellevue Forest neighborhood. The house was unoccupied at the time and nobody was hurt.
Arlington hosted the 37th Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, bringing tens of thousands of runners and spectators to the county.
The race kicked off just before 8:00 a.m. on Route 110, just before Memorial Bridge, and wound its way through Rosslyn, up Lee Highway, down the Spout Run Parkway, into the District (for about 16 of the 26.2 miles), through Crystal City and back to the Iwo Jima Memorial. A record 23,515 runners finished the race.
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Arlington County is urging residents to stay put until the heavy rain and wind of Hurricane Sandy blows through the area over the next day or so.
“Arlington emergency managers urge everyone to stay where you are,” the county said in a media alert this morning. “High winds and the danger of falling trees will present an extremely unsafe environment. Get yourself to a safe place and stay there.”
A new Bloomberg list of “large U.S. cities with wealthy one-person households” ranks Arlington as No. 2, second only to Hoboken, New Jersey. (Twenty-five percent of workers in Hoboken are employed in finance, insurance or real estate.)
To compile the list, Bloomberg examined U.S. Census data from 2006 to 2010 and identified cities of at least 50,000 people where men and women ages 15-64 “lived alone and had median incomes greater than national averages.”