(Updated at 3:00 p.m.) Driving rain and high winds knocked out power, flooded roads and led to numerous accidents in Arlington this morning.
Parts of Ballston and the area around Lee Highway and North Glebe Road lost power during the storm. A storm-related electrical fire in the parking garage of the National Science Foundation building caused dozens of workers to be evacuated. As of 2:50 p.m., the Arlington Central Library was still without power.
Right now it looks like just another drizzly day outside, but Arlington County is warning residents about the threat of severe weather later this afternoon. From Arlington Alert:
There is a chance of severe weather this afternoon and evening in the immediate D.C. metro area which may escalate quickly. Please stay alert.
Update at 6:45 p.m. — For once this summer, the initial storm prediction did not pan out. There’s still a chance that storms will develop later, but that’s looking increasingly unlikely.
The National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm watch for Arlington and the greater Washington area.
The National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm watch for Arlington until 9:00 p.m. Storms are approaching the area from the northwest.
Seeing the storm damage in D.C. and Montgomery County this morning brought back memories of the storms that ripped through Arlington and Alexandria one week ago.
One storm-related incident in particular still has people talking a week later — the parking lot full of cars with blown-out windows at the Shirlington Bus Station.
This morning’s storms did not slam Arlington with the widespread flooding and power outages with which the District is still coping.
The weather did, though, prompt Rosslyn to cancel its lunchtime farmers market and concert today.
NWS: No Sign of Tornado in South Arlington — Despite photos of car windows blown out and mass tree devastation, a team from the National Weather Service found no evidence that a tornado caused the worst of the damage in South Arlington. More from Fox 5.
Arlington FBI Impersonator Sentenced — Arlington resident Brenna Marie Reilly, 29, who told people she was the director of the FBI’s Forensic Division and later convinced a neighbor to quit his job and serve as her assistant, was sentenced on Friday. She will serve 30 days in prison, four months of house arrest and three years of probation. More from the Washington Examiner.
As of 3:00 p.m., 228 Dominion customers in south Arlington are still without power as a result of Thursday’s storm. No word on when their power might be restored.
As of 10:45 a.m., 3,087 Dominion customers were without power in Arlington.
Most of those outages appeared to be in the hard-Shirlington and Fairlington. Dominion expects power to be restored to most customers by 10:00 tonight.
At least a half dozen cars had windows shattered in the parking lot of the Shirlington Bus Station Thursday afternoon. It’s unclear whether the breakage was the result of a brazen daytime vandalism or whether it was caused by the strong storms that split trees in half just blocks away from the station.
In some cases the glass appeared to have exploded outward in small pieces, which does not seem like a likely pattern for vandalism. On the other hand, some cars seemed to escape the damage and the large glass panes in the bus station appeared intact.
As chainsaws buzzed, residents walked the streets of Fairlington tonight, surveying the damage from this afternoon’s wicked storms. At least 40-50 trees were down in the area, according to Arlington County spokesperson Diana Sun.
Fairlington appears to be Arlington’s hardest-hit neighborhood. It was hard to find an older tree without large branches missing. It was hard to find a block without at least one car damaged.
Stores and restaurants closed early in Shirlington Village, which lost power during this afternoon’s severe thunderstorms and hasn’t seen the lights come back yet. Small branches and leaves littered the tree-lined main drag of Campbell Avenue.
At least one bar valiantly stayed open, however. Bistro Bistro was serving bar patrons by candlelight and flashlight, while groups of people casually sat drinking beers on the outdoor patio.
