Officials rush to clean, restore power after storm

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Local officials were scrambling to clean up the Washington area Thursday after Wednesday's severe weather killed one person and left thousands without power.

About 100,000 homes were still without power Thursday afternoon, down from a peak of just under 400,000 Wednesday night, according to local power companies.

In Virginia, Dominion Power spokesman Karl Neddenien estimated that power would be fully restored in Northern Virginia by Saturday evening.

Pepco spokesman Robert Dobkin said Thursday there was no estimated restoration time for D.C. and Maryland customers. Pepco called in crews from Delmarva Power and Atlantic City Electric to help, with additional companies slated to arrive today.

The number of malfunctioning traffic signals in Montgomery County dropped from 70 Thursday morning to 60 as of 4 p.m. Thursday afternoon, according to police spokeswoman Blanca King. More than 100 signals at county intersections were not working immediately after the storms.

Montgomery and Prince George’s counties closed public schools Thursday because so many were without power.

However, Fairfax County officials kept schools open in the morning, although more than 25 did not have power.

“We opened all the schools this morning, though all of them did not have power,” said Paul Regnier, a spokesman for Fairfax County Public Schools. “It’s not unprecedented.”

By about 11:15 a.m., though, Fairfax County Public Schools announced that more than 30 would close for the day.

Because of fluctuating power in the area, some schools — including Madison High, Flint Hill Elementary and Louise Archer Elementary —  were reopened as their power came back on.

Students and teachers at Langley High School in McLean were initially relocated to the school’s football field because Langley’s backup generator and alarm system had failed.

“They knew from 3:30 [on Wednesday] that the generator wasn’t working,” said Michelle Shaw, co-president of the Langley High Parent-Teacher-Student Association. “Knowing the backup generator wasn't working and the power was out, I really don't think they should have opened the school. I just wish the superintendent's office could have done a better job with the situation.”

Montgomery and Prince George's  schools announced their closings Wednesday night.

Bill Marvil of Takoma Tree Experts Inc. said his business has received three times the normal number of tree removal requests in the past two days.

The Shady Grove, Forest Glen and Georgia Avenue Metro stations lost an estimated $12,000 in revenue when a power outage knocked out the stations' turnstile systems Wednesday.

Examiner Staff Writer Taryn Luntz contributed to this report.

dsherfinski@dcexaminer.com

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