As Hurricane Irene moved on to flood the streets of New York City Sunday, people in the Washington region were dealing with an aftermath of power outages, flooding and trees that continued to fall in high winds.
As of 6 p.m. Sunday, almost half a million customers were without power in the region, including 150,00 in Prince George’s and Montgomery counties, 100,000 in Anne Arundel and 30,000 in the District. As of noon, 82,000 were without power in Northern Virginia
The combination of winds continuing at near gale force and tree roots loosened by rain-saturated soil caused more power interruptions. Utilities said it would be several days before electricity is returned to some customers in the area, and crews from elsewhere in the country were moving in to assist.
Virginia emergency officials said the power outages in the state are the second-biggest in history, behind only the outages linked to Hurricane Isabel, which hit the region in 2003. Officials said that as of Sunday afternoon there were more than 1 million customers without power throughout Virginia.
Though many side streets, particularly in the harder-hit area to the east of Interstate 95, were blocked by fallen branches, most main roads remained open. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge reopened by mid-morning after being closed by hurricane-force gusts.
By afternoon, the now-tropical storm Irene had hit New York state and was headed for New England, and at least 14 Irene-related deaths had been reported along the East Coast. As the storm’s intensity dissipated, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that the evacuation order for low-lying areas of New York City would be lifted at 3 p.m.
All major airports north of Baltimore to Boston were closed. The expectation was that they would not reopen until late Sunday or Monday, and it would be days before the nation’s air travel system returned to normal. Rail and some bus service between Washington and Boston was suspended over the weekend.
All three of the airports serving Washington were open Sunday, although many airlines had canceled flights.
“Delays and cancellations here and at airports throughout the east will continue to be an issue today,” said spokesman Jonathan Dean as flights began to resume. “This storm continues to affect major markets like New York. Any serious disruption to air traffic in New York will impact the entire national air traffic system.
Metro opened two hours later than normal at 7 a.m., as opposed to the 5 a.m. opening originally planned for the dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. Rain and gusting wind flooded roadways and brought down wires and trees, leaving damage and obstructions that will cause problems on Sunday and into Monday morning’s commute.
The Maryland Transit Administration and the Virginia Railway Agency have both said that they plan to let commuters know about Monday morning’s MARC and VRE service by 6 p.m. Sunday.
Thanks to ample forewarning, people were prepared, from the North Carolina coast where Irene made landfall Saturday to New England, where Irene was expected to hit Sunday afternoon and Monday. New York City was likened to a ghost town Sunday morning.
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