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Nearly 600K homes are still without power in the DC Metro area. Everything that depends on electrical power is affected. The outages are spotty.

I live in Woodbridge, VA about 25 miles south of DC. We were on the southern margin of the storm Friday night and didn’t catch what Maryland, DC, and most of Northern VA caught. Except for a couple of flickers, power in our neighborhood never failed. Two miles from here, the gas stations are in “pay first inside mode”; all the card readers in the pumps are down because the link to the service provider is out. Yet Wegmans (2.5 miles from here) is operating normally.

Since ESTRANGED is probably a little hard to talk to in general terms, ask for his/her specific plans (i.e., how much cash are they planning to take) to deal with all the instances where electrical power is involved: buying tickets in the Metro, ATMs, gas station pumps, restaurants, shopping, etc. Also be aware that because they are free, open, and COOL, all the museums on the mall are going to be more packed than normal for the summertime (which is bad anyway). It may be a long, difficult, miserably hot day.

If the schedule permits, waiting a few days for the DC visit will see a big improvement in the experience. The various utility companies are estimating power back in most areas towards the end of the week. It is also supposed to be relatively cooler (low 90s) towards the end of the week.

Right now, there are state declarations of emergency being issued, bags of ice are being distributed, and cooling centers have been opened. Not exactly optimal for sightseeing.