Scattered power outages have been reported across Arlington after a strong dinnertime storm.
The storm peppered Arlington with lightning and caused water to rise on some local roadways. There were reports of trees, branches and power lines down and homes struck by lightning.
A soaking rain and gusty winds are causing some tree troubles around Arlington.
Nearly an inch of rain has fallen so far today. Also falling: trees and utility lines.
An 85-year-old woman escaped with a broken wrist, a lucky dog and a scary story after she fled a falling tree branch in Virginia Square last weekend.
According to her son Malcolm Beith, Marianne Beith “narrowly escaped serious injury” when walking through Hayes Park with her dog Xoco on Saturday.
A driver just missed a tree falling on their vehicle in Arlington’s Douglas Park neighborhood today.
The incident happened just after noon on S. George Mason Drive, north of Four Mile Run Drive.
Nearly 3,000 homes and businesses were reported to be without power this morning.
Power started flickering across several North Arlington neighborhoods around 9 a.m. A large fire department response was dispatched to St. Peter’s Episcopal Church along N. Glebe Road for a report of a fire, which turned out to be sparks from a tree falling on power lines near the church, according to scanner traffic.
The impacts from Saturday’s severe storms were so widespread that Arlington County is still assessing damage.
Power has since been restored to the more than 34,000 Dominion customers in the dark after the storms, and the GW Parkway completed its reopening yesterday after crews removed hundreds of fallen and potentially hazardous trees. But other damage to both private and county property is still being addressed in Arlington.
After removing several hundred trees, the National Park Service says it’s reopening Spout Run Parkway and portions of the northern GW Parkway today.
The busy commuter routes have been closed in both direction since Saturday’s severe storms.
(Updated at 4:05 p.m.) The herculean effort to clean up from Saturday’s storms and restore power to tens of thousands is continuing Monday morning.
The GW Parkway remains closed to most traffic between Spout Run Parkway and the Beltway — and is expected to remain closed until later this week, as crews work to clear a large number of downed trees and branches.
Update at 11:20 a.m. on 7/31/23 — The number of outages in Arlington is down to 3,154. The GW Parkway remains closed.
Update at 9 a.m. on 7/30/23 — More than 20,000 Dominion customers are still without power as of Sunday morning.
A hundred-some Dominion customers are without electricity along Old Dominion Drive after a tree fell on power lines.
The outage is affecting the Rock Spring neighborhood in far northern Arlington, including the area around Discovery Elementary and Williamsburg Middle School. A portion of Fairfax County is also within the power outage boundaries, as listed on the Dominion website.
Update at 3:20 p.m. — The number of outages is down to just over 600, according to Dominion. Police are in the process of removing cones from intersections with traffic signals that are working again.
Earlier: More than 3,500 homes and businesses are currently without power in Arlington due to a reported transformer fire.
Saturday night’s severe storms caused significant tree damage in parts of northern Arlington.
The southern reaches of the storms that flooded portions of D.C. and suburban Maryland also packed a punch in Arlington, ripping through the northern corner of the county with heavy rain and high winds. Other parts of Arlington only received moderate rainfall.
