Posted on 07/01/2012 7:36:40 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Devastating thunderstorms Friday left nine people in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia dead and hundreds of thousands without power in the region as residents across the area face more extreme temperatures and the possibility of additional thunderstorms this weekend.
According to the Associated Press, the storms were blamed for the deaths of six people in Virginia; two in New Jersey; two in Maryland; one in Ohio; one in Kentucky; and one in Washington. More thunderstorms were expected in the D.C. area heading into Saturday night, and triple-digit temperatures were forecast for Sunday with highs expected to reach 100.
One death in Springfield, Va., occurred after a tree crashed into the house of a 90-year-old woman asleep in bed. Authorities said Khiet Nguyen, 27, of Burke, was pronounced dead at the scene after a falling tree hit the car he was driving.
Gov. Bob McDonnell said that two deaths were also confirmed in Bedford County and two more in Albemarle County, all resulting from falling trees. Mr. McDonnell has declared a state of emergency in the wake of the sudden storms.
“The next few days in Virginia are going to be very, very difficult,” he said at a press briefing held at the state Emergency Operations Center in Richmond. “Virginians need to be caring, and compassionate, and on guard.”
Mr. McDonnell said the storms resulted in the largest non-hurricane power outage in state history and the fifth-largest outage overall, with approximately 2.5 million people in the state affected. Nearing 6 p.m. Saturday, Dominion reported about 556,000 customers without power Saturday afternoon, including about 369,000 in Northern Virginia. The company said that it expected a multiday restoration effort.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Maryland “Freak State” Disaster Area PING!
Obama’s fault!
Driving around Rockville/Bethesda today, I was really impressed with the number of trees down. This was a big wind indeed. We still have no power. Many intersection lights on Old Georgetown Road still out...very bad here.
I have family all over the area. Thanks for your threads and pings on this situation. Very helpful.
Very bad time of year and weather to have no power. I am lucky where I live in Maryland, the power lines appear to be protected. Saturday night about midnight the power flicked on and off a few times, once for over a minute giving me scare, but I thanked the stars it came on again.
It is very hot and humid here, stores all out of ice sign on their doors.
I store ice in my spare freezer,
Prayers for all who have been hurt by these storms.
In the meantime, my area deep in the heart of Texas is suffering one of the biggest droughts in many years. We haven’t had any measurable rain around these parts in months. Our lakes and rivers are drying up, and the threat is wildfire is very prevalent. Temperatures have been very high for this time of year, and we still have July and August to get through.
So sorry for your discomfort and distress....glad you have a generator to ease some of the pain of it all.
Totally understand what you are going through! The last time we lost power for an extended time was from Hurricane Ike. It was 10 days before we got power back. Those were some miserable 10 days in Texas heat.
Praying your power is restored soon!
My power was out for only six hours. I have no generator. I consider myself very lucky.
The lower Eastern Shore (both Maryland and Virginia) got off easy. No power outages I am aware of and really minimal damage. We lost a barn door and a storm window....both o which are easily (and cheaply) replaced/repaired.
I feel for those still without power.
I’m glad you’re OK sick ...
I hear thunder right now.
A number of blocks away in my same neighborhood the power will be out for about 5 days again, as my part is spared again. My neighbors relatives come to visit them everytime there is one of these storms,
2 trees blown out of the ground in my neighborhood, one of them just down the block.
Root tearing out left a crater you could put a car in.
Fortunately the tree’s fell parallel to the houses and totally missed them.
The one down the street is across 3 lawns.
I saw just such a tree in Riverdale Woods.
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