Thousands of people in Fairfax County have been without power or air conditioning for the past 24 hours, after heavy wind and rain rocked the area.
“It’s definitely difficult, occurring in the middle of the work day,” resident Ryan Gallagher said.
He and his dog Benny had to get out of their apartment to get fresh air in the Mosaic District in Fairfax County.
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“We currently do not have air conditioning, which as you know, can be a little bit difficult with the weather being how it’s been the past few days," Gallagher said.
On District Avenue, restaurant managers posted signs that read “Closed due to power outage” and “No power closed.”
Dominion Energy Spokesperson Peggy Fox said storm damage caused the outages.
"This reminded me of the derecho," she said. "This kind of damage looks like hurricane damage."
On Route 7 near the Beltway in Falls Church, a massive tree toppled over, damaging 10 power poles. Power lines extended across four lanes of traffic.
“We know it’s traumatic when you lose power. It is so frustrating and we feel for people. We don’t want people to be without power. We have been working nonstop trying to get the power back," Fox said.
That’s what Gallagher said he likes to hear.
“More than anything else, [we want] just AC and get back to living life normally," Gallagher said.
Dominion Power said crews will continue to work around the clock to fix power lines so that everyone has their lights back on as soon as possible.
