More Than 1.5 Million Without Power; 4 Killed

Channel 4 NBC Washington ^ | 6/30/12

[Kartographer]

A fast-moving line of dangerous storms knocked out power to more than 1.5 million customers in the D.C. area Friday night.

A day of record-shattering heat ended with severe thunderstorms that rushed through the metro area with strong winds and an impressive lightning display.

The storms produced hurricane-force winds in excess of 80 mph. Gusts of 82 mph were reported in the Reston area.

On Saturday morning, the Virginia Department of Emergency Management confirmed that four people had died due to the storm in the Commonwealth.

The National Weather Service reported a tree fell on a car in the area of Old Keene Mill Road and Bauer Drive in Springfield, Va. shortly before 11 p.m., killing 27-year-old Khiet Nguyen of Burke.

[ConorMacNessa]

My wife is at Laurel Lakes on U.S. 1 right now. All the stores in the Laurel Lakes Shopping Center are closed. I don't know about the ones on the East side of the road. She had to follow a circuitous route to get there - lots of road closures.



Genuflectimus non ad principem sed ad Principem Pacis!

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

My commute this morning was surreal. I drove one stretch of around five miles near my house at about quarter to five, and saw basically nothing but darkness. Most of the lights on I-270 were out as well. Lots of tree limbs down, too.

Maryland “Freak State” PING!

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

flap your arms or wave them around in front of your face. /sarc

[Ellendra]

I was at a wilderness survival school once during a week when the temps hit 105, and the sun was beating down so much that the bark on the trees was crackling like breakfast cereal. I found out by accident that if you take a lightweight shawl or one of those wraparound skirts, dip it in water, and drape it over your shoulders, it’s like wearing your own personal air conditioner. It keeps the sun off your skin, but lets the breezes through, and the evaporation cools you down a lot.

It looks a little silly, but it works.

[beandog]

I live in Bethesda. Power went out about 10-1030 last night and is still out. A couple of years ago we were upgrading several rooms in our house during the horrible winter storm when we lost power for days. I insisted that we put in a natural gas generator. Best thing we ever did. It turns itself on when the power goes out and turns itself off when the power comes on. No more worrying about loss of food or freezing to death in the winter.

It does run the house heat because it’s gas, but it doesn’t run the whole house air conditioner. Fortunately we put in a separate unit in the kitchen which does run on the generator. It’s a nice cool 74 were I’m sitting. I’m planning on sleeping in the kitchen. The rest of the house isn’t too bad because all the ceiling fans are on. We also have all our tvs, computers, lights and all the refrigerators/freezers.

It took me 3 1/2 hours to clean the pool, and front and back yards. It was a disaster. We’re going to try and go out tonight so hopefully the roads are better than they were this morning.

[bgill]

Cleopatra had the right idea. A couple of hunks with fans and another with a bowl of grapes.

[fatima]

Prayers PowderMonkey ((((Hugs))))Waiting to hear from our Granddaughter who headed down the shore right before storm hit at 1 AM.I know we had 70 mph winds at our shore place and lines and trees are down and she was going to be near there.No news is good news.

[fatima]

Granddaughter just called.All is OK.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

And obummer hasn't told 'em to stick a pinwheel out the window?

[ConorMacNessa]

I had to venture out a little before 4:00 to take my son to work. All the lights were out on U.S. 1 - total anarchy! Apparently some people either don't know, or just don't care, that an intersection with the lights out becomes a four-way stop. I nearly got T-boned by some jackass who didn't want to wait his turn. Damned savages!!!



Genuflectimus non ad principem sed ad Principem Pacis!

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

[CatherineofAragon]

LOL!

[magooey]

I am not far from you in Rockville. The power went out at the same time, but it just came back around 2 hours ago. Hope your juice comes back on shortly.

[Monorprise]

Yea when i first saw the headline it was like District of Columbia who cares what happens to them. But then its like O yea this hit a lot more people than just D.C.

[simplesimon]

Howdy Neighbor ~

My area was without before 5pm and it just came back on after 11:30 Am this morning.

About 10 minutes after it came back on, a friend was over and left to go see if their electric was on down the street ( we live in the country ) and zoomed the golf cart back lickety split and said he thought the neighbor across teh streets house was on fire.
It was on fire.

Total loss and destruction and their 3 little Chiuauhua’s perished in the fire.

They were not home and thankfully so.

There was no looting or destruction here either.

[Viking2002]

My mother and I were e-mailing each other last night (she's in Cumberland), and I was watching the radar online. As the storms got closer and it got worse outside, she said she was watching The Weather Channel when the cable went out and all the streetlights went dark, then the windows started to rattle. I told her to beat feet for the basement, and she grabbed her purse, keys, the dog, and her laptop, and took off. She said this morning that she came upstairs around midnight after the weather died down to take the dog out for one last constitutional, and it was pitch black, but she could hear voices, and people were out in their yards. This morning it was carnage. The fire department and Asplundh Tree were there to clear the roads - there are only two ways off the ridge where she lives, and they were both blocked with downed trees. They confirmed through the weather service that it was a tornado - it touched down across the street and literally corkscrewed a 125 year old oak right out of the ground. Branches were blown through her front porch posts and lodged there; the rest of the yard is littered with branches and debris. Another neighbor lost some windows and his rain gutters; a third had to abandon her home when a tree came down and took off the back of her house. She said the entire ridge looked like a war zone. Thousands are still without power up there, and a lot of businesses were closed today. From what she described, it came down between the neighbor's houses across the street and went right by the end of our driveway. I told her only the grace of God kept it from touching down about 50 yards closer, or she'd have no roof. I guess it missed the power lines, because she still had lights when she went outside, but everything else was dark. She said she's never experienced such an eerie pitch blackness like that before, and some of the neighbors said they were never more scared in their lives.

"As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their hearts desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."

--H.L. Mencken, The Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920

[House Atreides]

“Looks like the the good LORD maybe trying to tell us something!”
***********************************************************
Bury your power lines?

[Albion Wilde]

We need to import millions more foreigners, and keep those borders open for millions more..

We could use them to run on a big hamster wheel generator over there in Arlington...

[patton]

Quick lessons from this little inconconvience -

CASH. Lots of stores open, cash only. No power or telecom.

Water - 10 gals is a good start. FC Water announced a boil-it warning this AM.

Well, actually, the radio announced it (WTOP DC). And it was wrong. FC water is huge, they announced all FC water should boil or bleach. When FC water finally got on the radio, they were horrified - uh, no. Only Dunn Loring, Vienna, Tysons. and Merrifield.

Radio is fog of war, full of it.

[Mamzelle]

For those exhibiting symptoms of heat stroke...ummmm...what should they do?

[momincombatboots]

Greenbrier county West Virginia hit hard. We don’t expect power for a week.