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Storms cause widespread outages, minor injuries
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Pedestrians get caught in an afternoon thunderstorm along M Street Northwest in Georgetown on Monday. – Andrew Harnik/Examiner
WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Mother Nature gave the D.C. region a thrashing late Monday, cutting off power to tens of thousands, snarling the evening commute and injuring tourists on the National Mall.
Heavy rains lashed out from darkened skies in the late afternoon. Three adults and seven juveniles were rushed to hospitals for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries after a tent collapsed on the Mall, according to the U.S. Park Police.
Authorities had to slash the tent to pull an 11-year-old girl out from under it, D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services spokesman Alan Etter told The Examiner.
Meanwhile, swaths of the city and suburbs were without power after the rains overloaded grid circuits. The hardest-hit areas were Arlington and Alexandria, where at least 70,000 lost electricity, Dominion officials reported.
Another 31,000 lost power in Montgomery County, most of them clustered around the Gaithersburg area, Pepco reported. It had been a bad day all around for Montgomery County public works: Monday began with a massive water main rupture that shut off the faucets of thousands of residents and left thousands subject to boil orders.
In the District, about 9,500 lost power, most of them along Minnesota Avenue in Northeast, Pepco officials said.
Outages elsewhere included:
- More than 13,000 in Prince George’s County;
- 18,000-plus in Fairfax;
- 13,000 in the Springfield area.
The heavy rains forced commuters to crawl home on the region’s roads. Web site Traffic.com reported a downed tree blocking the George Washington Memorial Parkway at Tulane Drive and another at Spout Run Parkway.
Staff Writer Scott McCabe contributed to this story.
bmyers@dcexaminer.com
Comments from Examiner Readers
4:08 PM MST on Mon., Jul. 7, 2008 re: "High temperatures expected to last throughout the week"
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12:35 PM MST on Fri., Jun. 13, 2008
re: "Storm leaves thousands without power, closes several schools in Baltimore area"
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6:05 AM MST on Thu., Jun. 5, 2008
re: "Heavy rain, winds leave thousands without power"
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6:29 PM MST on Tue., May. 13, 2008
re: "O’Malley turns weatherman after emergency briefing"
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10:08 AM MST on Tue., May. 13, 2008
re: "O’Malley turns weatherman after emergency briefing"
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4:27 AM MST on Tue., May. 13, 2008
re: "O’Malley turns weatherman after emergency briefing"
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7:55 PM MST on Thu., Feb. 14, 2008
re: "Va. to scrutinize ice-clearing strategy after icy highways overwhelm crews"
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7:30 PM MST on Thu., Feb. 14, 2008
re: "Va. to scrutinize ice-clearing strategy after icy highways overwhelm crews"
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4:59 PM MST on Thu., Feb. 14, 2008
re: "Va. to scrutinize ice-clearing strategy after icy highways overwhelm crews"
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4:37 PM MST on Thu., Feb. 14, 2008
re: "Va. to scrutinize ice-clearing strategy after icy highways overwhelm crews"
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7:37 PM MST on Fri., Feb. 1, 2008
re: "Today's weather: More of the same"
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4:20 AM MST on Tue., Jan. 22, 2008
re: "Baltimore braces as forecasters predict prolonged cold weather"
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9:51 AM MST on Fri., Jan. 4, 2008
re: "Alameda-Oakland ferry cancels morning trips"
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MrHyphy said:
Time to chill on the block with a tank top yadadafeel me?
5 agree | 5 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Was the tree in the picture cut down? There is no breakage on the tree and looks like it was taken down by a chain saw.
6 agree | 7 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Let's not forget those of us that were stranded because MTA doesn't have a proper back up plan for light rail interuptions. Dozens of people waited for their chance to crowd onto a shuttle bus, maybe 3 showed up in the hour i waited. When lodging a complaint, the MTA rep. said they do not plan for these things. REALLY? you should always plan for how to get around an interuption in the line. But then again, its the MTA! BTW, what the hell does O'Malley ahve to do with the weather? Everyone seems to be all up in arms about relating him to the storm damage. It's an act of nature, or as some might say, an act of GOD lol. if so, GOD does not seem to be happy with those that are close minded lately.
9 agree | 8 disagree
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Steven Lessner said:
O'malley,busch,and miller would all be typical weatherman where they could lie to the public.Between the state liars and shelia dixon and her corrupt adminstration it's a race to see who can steal more tax dollars. Dixon's adminstration does a pretty good job of stealing since most of her people are black.Instead of giving a tax break she wants to give raises to her people while other people in the private sector are losing their jobs let's give raises and screw the people in the city. Dixon doesn't care about the city of baltimore, one of the most violent in the country.Just as O'Malley could care less about Maryland,this is not the "FREE STATE" anymore it's should be renamed the expensive state that has the most laws in the nation.
8 agree | 9 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
O'Malley would make a better weather man than he is a politician. He could lie about the weather and blame it on Bob Ehrlich and global warming.
9 agree | 9 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Had it not been for global warming there would be 40 inches of snow laying on the ground right now with many people losing thier lives!
7 agree | 7 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Was the issue with VDOT and /or the lack of the national /local reporting
147 agree | 169 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Virginia definitely doesn't know how to handle this type of weather, let alone do Virginia drivers know how to drive. Being from Indiana, it cracks me up to see places of business closing down because the weather report says there's a chance of snow. People need to slow down and remember what driver's ed taught them, it'll save lives.
154 agree | 160 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Cabin fever!!!
156 agree | 129 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
The problem is that Virginia does not know how to handle winter weather. It's not just highways. "It was a perfect storm at a perfect time..."? Gimme a break. Just own up to not having enough DOT trucks, and to not having an efficient plan when snow/ice falls. There certainly are plenty of other states that deal with snow/ice every year, yet they don't seem to have these issues. It's amazing really.
161 agree | 155 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
ok
177 agree | 184 disagree
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Tinker said:
Just think how much colder it would be if "AL" had not invented global warming!
197 agree | 171 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Actually, there was also a 7:05 ferry from Oakland to SF that I was on - what a wild ride!
225 agree | 208 disagree
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