In a small south Arlington neighborhood wedged between I-395, Glebe Road and Four Mile Run, all hell broke loose when the storms passed through this afternoon.
“It was a tornado, definitely,” said resident Paschal Nash, as she inspected the tree branches scattered throughout her yard. “It started with just light rains, then rains increased but then the winds… you just started hearing [stuff] crashing, like breaking… I watched the tree actually split half because of the lightning.”
Update at 3:45 p.m. — Reports of power outages, trees down and lights on flash around the area. Lights at Clarendon Blvd and Fillmore St and Wilson Blvd and Highland St are flashing.
Update at 4:10 p.m. — The traffic lights at Route 50 and Glebe Road are dark. A wall collapsed in Shirlington as a result of the storm, no injuries. Major backups on South I-395 right now.
Lightning, booming thunder and pouring rain is affecting much of Arlington as storms head into the area from the northwest.
The National Weather Service has issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch for the area.
Power has been restored to about 8,300 of the 8,800+ Dominion customers who were without power last night. Most of the larger outages have been taken care of, leaving numerous smaller outages scattered throughout the county.
Update at 11:30 p.m. — In Arlington, 8,800+ Dominion customers are still in the dark at this hour. Most are expected to have power by morning.
Arlington was pounded by high winds and heavy rain this afternoon as a severe thunderstorm rolled through the area, turning roads into rivers and knocking out power in several parts of the county.
In case you missed nature’s spectacular light show over DC last night, here’s a shot we captured at the Air Force Memorial.
Update at 3:45 p.m. — Traffic has reopened on Route 50.
A strong thunderstorm brought high winds, stinging rain and booming thunder to Arlington and the much of the Washington metro area this afternoon.
Update at 2:45 p.m. — Warning extended to 3:30.
Update at 2:00 p.m. — A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for Arlington County until 2:45.
“Looks Like a Supercell” — Yesterday’s storms produced some very interesting cloud formations, which Flickr pooler Philliefan99 captured beautifully. See our coverage of the extensive power outages caused by the storms here.
Ten Cars Damaged on North Rhodes Street — A driver who police believe was drunk smashed into as many as ten cars early this morning on North Rhodes Street. Around 12:30 a.m., residents reported hearing the sound of a car crash. When police arrived, they found as many as 10 cars with collision damage between Key Boulevard and Wilson Boulevard. Police located a man suspected of being the driver of the striking vehicle a short time later.
A large swath of South Arlington was without power tonight after strong storms swept through the area and damaged a power substation in Alexandria.
Throughout Shirlington and all along Columbia Pike, homes, apartment buildings and traffic lights went dark. Police, swamped with calls, were largely unable to direct traffic, even at busy intersections.
A brief thunderstorm that brought torrential rains to the area has knocked out power to more than 1,600 Dominion customers in Arlington.
The storm also knocked out traffic lights on Four Mile Run Drive, George Mason Drive and Wilson Boulevard. Police are directing traffic at a number of intersections, including several in the Courthouse area.
I’ll just say it: Arlington doesn’t get enough good thunderstorms. And when storms do approach, too many times it seems we get a “close call” — like last night, when we caught the edge of a storm and then were forced to watch as lightning flashed in the distance.
C’mon, weather gods, give us some legit wind and hail (without destruction of property or other bad things happening, if possible, although a short power outage would be fine by me).
