More than two days after violent storms swept through the D.C. area, thousands of residents face ongoing power outages and cleanup efforts. On the roads, closures on the George Washington Memorial Parkway are expected to last for days.
The storm’s heavy winds brought down trees and power lines on Saturday across D.C., Maryland and Virginia. Crews have worked to fix infrastructure such as broken poles and transformers that need to be replaced as well as remove downed trees.
Portions of GW Parkway may be closed for three or four days, the National Park Service said at about midday Monday. Here’s what they said drivers will see:
- “The North Parkway, from Spout Run Parkway to I-495, remains closed, except for the northbound lanes from Route 123 to I-495
- The southbound lanes of the Spout Run Parkway are also closed"
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Crews are working to clear fallen trees and hazardous, broken limbs from on and near the roadway.
“To enhance and expedite the restoration process, George Washington Memorial Parkway has deployed a total of five crews, including its own team, assistance from the National Capital Parks-East (NACE), and three additional emergency contracting crews,” the Park Service said in a statement.
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In D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser and the emergency management director surveyed storm damage on Monday. Do not step on, drive over or move fallen power lines, the mayor said.
Virginia man killed by fallen tree
While most Northern Virginians wait for repairs to replaceable possessions, a Prince William County family lost one thing that can never be replaced.
Husband and father Allan Lee was killed when a massive tree came down on their Montclair home.
A tree removal crew knocked another large piece of tree onto their home Monday.
Neighbors have organized an online fundraiser to support the Lee family.
Power back for customers
"We have restored 90% so far who were impacted by the storm, but there still is a lot of significant amount of remaining customers," Pepco Communications Manager Addie Kauzlarich said.
Pepco and Dominion Energy made major progress Monday night. Pepco has just 600 customers without power in Montgomery County and 900 in D.C.
Dominion Energy restored all power to customers in Arlington.
Kauzlarich told News4 the utility estimates that all service will be restored by 3 p.m. Tuesday.
At the height of the storm, about 30,000 Dominion Energy customers were left in the dark, spokesperson Peggy Fox said.
Arlington residents rallied around Toby's Homemade Ice Cream & Coffee Shop in Westover, which lost power and was about to lose all of its product. They posted on social media asking the community to endure the powerless business so their powerless business could endure.
"Before you knew it, we were packed in here,” Toby Bantug said. “Line all the way around the back, looping out the front, out the door, and then a little bit up the block, and I was like, oh my gosh, this is insane."
“That's how Westover can really come together in times like that," he said.
'I started sobbing'
Trees fell on top of the Sower family's home in the Foxhall-Palisades area of Northwest D.C. The trees punctured a hole in the roof and knocked down a chimney.
A second tree landed on top of the family's car. The weight of a third tree snapped a power pole on the street in half.
The father and son were at home when the storm went through and the trees fell down. The father said it was scary, like the windows could shatter.
"It went into hurricane mode where, super scary, [it] felt like the windows might pop. And then we heard a loud kind of boom with the trees falling," Clever Sower said. "And we actually saw this tree fall right into the living room on top of us, grabbed the kids' and kind of ran into the back."
"I had to park down there, and I didn't even have a rain jacket. I'm just running through the rain, and I walked up to the house and I just — I'm not a crier and I started sobbing because our life was going to change a lot," Emily Sower said.
In Rockville, strong winds ripped off part of a wall of The Original Pancake House. The restaurant was closed when the damage occurred. They were able to reopen early Sunday.
A playground in Rocky Run Park in Clarendon, Virginia, was closed Monday because of fallen tree limbs and scattered branches. Nearby, a car was crushed by a tree, and the wind knocked down a tree along with part of a sidewalk.
Arlington County Parks and Recreation said they have about 150 locations with storm damage.
Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.
