As of 2:30 p.m, there were 3,960 Dominion customers in Arlington without power. That’s down from 15,654 as of 10:00 yesterday (Tuesday) morning. Dominion says it’s a day ahead of its storm restoration target.
“Service for virtually all customers in Northern Virginia and the Richmond metro area who lost electric service because of the storms should be restored by Friday night,” the company said.
Arlington County says it is making good progress in its continued storm recovery efforts. The county released some updated facts and figures today regarding the storm cleanup.
Flickr pool photo by Divaknevil
Dominion says its on track to restore power to 80-85 percent of customers affected by Friday’s storms by the end of the day today. The company says 90-95 percent of affected customers should be back on line by Thursday night, with “virtually all remaining customers” restored by Saturday night.
Dominion crews and mutual aid crews will be working through the Fourth of July holiday, the company said.
Tree limbs down the the score. Fallen utility lines coned off and marked with orange flags. Neighbors out with shovels and snow blowers. Kids, off from school, toting around plastic sleds. Stretches where power and traffic lights were out (including a busy section of Lee Highway between Kirkwood and Veitch). Police and firefighters responding to call after call after call.
In the aftermath of what caused so much frustration last night were more glimpses of the good that snow brings out in many of us. On side streets, many of those neighbors with shovels and snow blowers were out helping to clear the still un-plowed roads. Others could be seen clearing public sections of sidewalk so others didn’t have to walk in the street.
The group, which cleaned up the portion of the stream that runs through Barcroft Park, filled 28 trash bags with items found in or around the water. Among the items they found were a bicycle, a computer, a 70 pound metal beam and — most amazingly — the severed head of a goat, horns and all.
“I have no clue what it was doing down there amongst the plastic bottles, pens, styrofoam cups, baseballs, etc… but it smelled quite foul and we bagged it with all the other garbage,” Dan Bronson of Arlington’s Community Volunteer Network wrote in an email. “It still had the skin on it so it hadn’t been there too long.”
Above: A pile of snow nearly reaches to the second floor of an abandoned motel in Crystal City. This was one of the county’s dump sites, described in this post from last night.
With brilliantly clear skies today, and a dry weekend predicted, the roads may actually get fully cleared before Monday, when our next batch of snow is expected to arrive.
Arlington County snow crews continue to work around the clock, focusing their efforts on main roads and emergency routes. The county says crews will not reach most neighborhood roads until Monday.
Here’s a list of safety guidelines from the county’s press release.
