Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) announced today he will send 120 soldiers from the Virginia National Guard to the U.S. Virgin Islands to help with relief after Hurricane Maria.
The 120 soldiers are assigned to the Staunton-based 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, and will deploy in the next week to mission command headquarters. Up to 400 more will follow to conduct humanitarian assistance, clear roads and give out supplies to citizens.
After her adopted home of the U.S. Virgin Islands was battered by Hurricane Irma, a woman with connections to Arlington County is calling on others to donate to help the relief effort.
Victoria Lemmon grew up in Ashburn and her father and sister currently live and work in Arlington. She moved to the U.S. Virgin Islands two years ago when she graduated college and “started a life there, met amazing people who have done the same thing I did, people who started families, and families who relocated there to live the dream.”
It’s been an anxious couple of weeks for one Arlington resident who had three family members in the path of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
Pat Shapiro, who lives in the Leeway Overlee neighborhood, has one son, Josh, in Houston; another son, Aaron, living in Miami; and her 89-year-old mother is a resident of Naples, Fla. All three were impacted to some degree.
NBC4: County Agency Failed to Report Alleged Sex Abuse — “The I-Team found [Arlington County Child Protective Services] failed to notify state officials to revoke the license of a former Arlington Public Schools teacher whom they investigated for sexually abusing a former third grade student. The teacher was able to work as an assistant principal in the Prince George’s County Public Schools district for years because of the error.” [NBC Washington]
Jury Duty Process Starting Soon — The Arlington Circuit Court is starting its annual juror qualification process with questionnaires set to be mailed to randomly selected Arlington and Falls Church residents in early September. “These questionnaires are used to qualify residents for jury duty which begins January 1, 2018 and ends December 31, 2018,” according to a press release. [Arlington County]
Update at 2:30 p.m. — Arlington is now also under a Severe Thunderstorm Watch.
A severe thunderstorm watch has been issued for parts of CT, DE, DC, MD, MA, NJ, NY, PA, VA, WV until 9 PM EDT pic.twitter.com/5IkasOqzn9
Arlington County is under a Severe Thunderstorm Warning until 8:15 p.m. tonight.
A strong storm is heading towards Arlington from the northwest, forecasters say. Very heavy rain and damaging wind is possible with the storm.
(Update at 8:10 p.m.) A storm packing torrential rain, hail, thunder, lightning and strong wind gusts rolled through Arlington Thursday evening.
As of 8 p.m., nearly 2,600 Dominion customers in Arlington were still without power, according to the utility’s website. The primary outage is located along Lee Highway, between East Falls Church and N. Harrison Street, where downed trees and power lines were reported.
Girls’ Firefighting Camp Featured on BBC — The annual girls’ firefighting camp held by Arlington County was the subject of a BBC News video segment, which was published online yesterday. [BBC]
Arlington Treated to ‘Massive’ Rainbow — After yesterday’s downpours, a bright rainbow was visible over Arlington, prompting a photo opportunity that many took advantage of. [Twitter]
Arlington is under a Severe Thunderstorm Warning through 5:45 p.m. today (Monday).
The National Weather Service says a strong storm is heading toward Arlington, packing heavy rain and wind.
(Updated at 7:10 p.m.) More than 8,000 Dominion customers in Arlington lost electricity after a powerful storm blew through the area.
As of 5:30 p.m. Dominion was reporting 8,089 without power in Arlington, including in the Fairlington neighborhood and along Lee Highway. Some traffic lights were said to be dark on Lee Highway, including at the busy intersection of Lee Highway and Fairfax Drive.
Severe Thunderstorm Warning including Washington DC, Arlington VA, Alexandria VA until 5:15 PM EDT pic.twitter.com/g5kbbFkLly
— NWS Baltimore-Washington (@NWS_BaltWash) July 14, 2017
The National Weather Service reissued the advisory early Friday afternoon as temperatures climbed into the 90s and the heat index hit 105 degrees.
The weather service is also warning of possible storms tonight.
