An oak tree that has, for centuries, towered over what is now the Westover neighborhood is being cut down today.
The derecho on June 29 irreparably damaged the historic Post Oak, a majestic 93-foot tall tree that likely dates back to the mid-to-late 1700s. The county decided that the tree, believed to be the oldest in Arlington, had to be removed for the safety of residents.
Although Sunday’s storms didn’t cause the widespread damage Arlington experienced from the June 29 “derecho” storm, the effects are still being felt in parts of the county.
Long Bridge Drive between S. 12th Street and I-395 is completely closed due to flooding. The parking lot at Long Bridge Park is also blocked.
As of 2:00 this (Friday) afternoon, 48 Dominion customers were without power. The company says that it expects all known power outages in the area to be restored by later tonight. According to Arlington officials, all county traffic signals are now functioning. Some 96 traffic signals were knocked out by Friday’s storms, largely due to power outages.
In a press release, the county noted that one of Arlington’s most historic trees was a victim of the storms. The Revolutionary War-era Post Oak (pictured), in the Westover area, is set to be cut down due to wind damage.
New Bikeshare Stations Coming to Pike, Trails — A new “Transit Development Plan” for Capital Bikeshare calls for new stations to be installed along Columbia Pike, in Shirlington, at the Pentagon, at Arlington National Cemetery and along the W&OD and Four Mile Run trails. Installation of most of the planned stations is expected to take place in 2013. [The Wash Cycle]
Southwest Comes to DCA — Southwest Airlines will begin operating its first scheduled service from Reagan National Airport on Sunday (July 8). The airline will be flying between DCA and Austin, Texas. [Sun Gazette]
As of 2:30 p.m., Dominion’s outage website showed 1,438 customers without power. That’s down from 3,960 at the same time yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon. Dominion reports it’s on track to have electricity restored to nearly all customers by Friday night.
“In a few instances, work in Northern Virginia may continue into Saturday where there was extreme damage,” said Rodney Blevins, Dominion vice president of Electric Distribution Operations, in a statement.
Neighborhood Thanks Power Crews — A few special guests stopped by the Waycroft-Woodlawn Fourth of July picnic yesterday (see photo, above). The neighborhood invited two hard-working power crews from Ontario, Canada to have a quick lunch with them. “The community clapped and cheered to say thanks,” writes resident Jim Pebley. “Was a nice moment after a long hot couple days.”
Storm Damage at Arlington National Cemetery — Arlington National Cemetery is reporting some significant damage in the wake of last Friday’s storms. The cemetery lost three of its oldest trees, which are all between 225 and 240 years old. In all, 8 large trees were lost and 17 were damaged to the point where they need to be removed. Falling trees also damaged some headstones. The cemetery says the damage is similar to that suffered during Hurricane Irene. The cemetery “continues to assess the extent of the damage and has started on the restoration.” [Arlington National Cemetery]
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.
The region’s big Independence Day fireworks display on the National Mall is expected to kick off around 9:10 p.m. tonight
The display will last about 17 minutes, according to the National Park Service. For those who want to watch the fireworks from this side of the Potomac River, there are a number of places to watch the fireworks in and around Arlington tonight.
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
The Aurora Highlands, Cherrydale and Glencarlyn branch libraries are now scheduled to be open on Tuesdays from 1:00 to 9:00 p.m., while the Columbia Pike, Shirlington and Westover libraries are now scheduled to be open from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Thursdays.
From July 1, 2010 to last week, all six libraries had been closed on those respective days due to budget cuts. This year’s budget included an extra $442,996 in funding to restore pre-recession branch library operating hours.
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.
Power Outage Update — As of 8:30 a.m., there were 14,860 Dominion customers still without power in Arlington. That’s down from 27,586 outages as of 9:30 yesterday morning.
911 Now Accessible By Cell Phone — Arlington County says its 911 system is now properly receiving calls from cell phones. Problems were reported with the system yesterday afternoon.
