Area Cleans Up After Deadly Storms

| Print Post This | Like (0) | Comments (0)

Josiah Boyer and Kristin Tomasulo look at a tree that fell Wednesday at 9th and K streets NW. Photo by Katherine Frey/The Washington Post. Below right: Virginia Melanson of Chicago seeks shelter from the storms in Annapolis. Photo by Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post

GOOD MORNING, WASHINGTON. If you haven't seen a downed tree limb, power line or other detritus from yesterday's onslaught of powerful stormy weather, you're one of the few.

The violent storms are blamed for one death, and caused so many power outages that Montgomery County and Prince George's County decided to shutter their public schools for the day today, although scheduled graduation ceremonies will go on as planned.

Here's the latest on power outages from The Post's Maria Glod, Debbi Wilgoren and Tom Jackman:

In Northern Virginia, more than 115,000 customers remained without power as of 7:30 a.m. this morning, Dominion Virginia Power reported. Pepco said there were 72,000 homes and businesses without power in Montgomery County, along with nearly 18,000 homes and businesses in Prince George's County and almost 12,000 customers in the District. Baltimore Gas and Electric reported another 7,000 outages in Prince George's, along with 20,000 outages in Anne Arundel County, 5,500 outages in Howard County. And some 6,400 outages remained in Southern Maryland, according to utility officials there.

Area utility companies said last night that they will need until late tomorrow to restore service to all their customers.

According to The Post, the storms might have spawned small tornadoes "in Falls Church; in Fairfax County; near Stafford, Va.; near Bel Alton, in Charles County; and near the Anne Arundel-Calvert county line. National Weather Service experts planned to survey damage and investigate tornado reports today."

Metro wasn't immune to the storms, either. Downed power lines near the East Falls Church station snarled service on the Orange Line last night, as evening commuters on that line know well. Service between East Falls Church and West Falls Church was suspended from 3:30 p.m. to 6:12 p.m., the transit agency says.

What's on tap for today? Likely more thunderstorms, says our colleague Josh Larson of the Capital Weather Gang. "[T]he good news is that they shouldn't be as widespread or severe as yesterday's violent outbreak," he writes. "The other rather unsavory forecast item is that extreme heat and humidity are on the way for Friday through at least early next week, with daytime highs into the 90s each day."

» "One Dead After Powerful Storms" [WaPo]

Workers in Chesapeake Beach, Md., on Wednesday clean up material blown from a roof into a parking lot during the storms. Photo by Mark Gail/The Washington Post