Ernesto Leaves Thousands in the Dark
Some in Region Told to Evacuate

By Theresa Vargas and Jennifer Lenhart
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, September 2, 2006

What was left of Tropical Storm Ernesto delivered a heavy lashing of rain and wind to the Washington area throughout the day yesterday, prompting officials to order evacuations, declare states of emergency and open shelters.

The brunt of the problem in Washington and its immediate suburbs appeared to be power outages caused by the high winds. Nearly 40,000 homes and businesses in Northern Virginia were without power last night. About 80,000 customers in the District and Maryland were in the dark.

"Do all you can to stay inside. Don't go out if you don't have to," Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) said yesterday afternoon in what seemed to become a battle cry among area emergency officials as the weather intensified.

State and local emergency officials opened operations centers across the region in case major flooding and power outages called for additional evacuations or rescues. But most never had to fully activate. They had expected a pummeling but got a slap. By late afternoon, the storm had been downgraded, and the rain estimates had dropped from the four to eight inches forecast.

By last night, one to two inches of rain had fallen in most of the region, the National Weather Service said. St. Mary's County, however, received nearly six inches, and the Shenandoah Valley got almost four. More rain was expected overnight.

Sustained winds at Reagan National Airport last night were about 30 mph with gusts of more than 40 mph.

For many of the region's residents, the whole thing was mostly a nuisance -- little more than a delay to an early Labor Day weekend. But in areas south and east of the District, the storm will be remembered for a long time.

Norfolk and other Hampton Roads communities received more than six inches of rain, flooding low-lying areas and knocking out power to more than 200,000 customers. In Richmond, more than 200 homes were evacuated, and more than 90,000 customers lacked power.

For others still recovering from the June storm that brought as much as 13 inches of rain to the region, the threat was enough to send them stockpiling sandbags.

"I think people are apprehensive because we don't know how serious this storm is going to be," said Brian Hannigan, a spokesman for Alexandria, which experienced major flooding in June. "Four inches is a lot, and eight inches is a real lot."

Meteorologist Luis Rosa of the National Weather Service in Sterling said the threat of flash flooding had greatly diminished by yesterday afternoon, but a swelled Potomac River meant that coastal flooding would remain a possibility through the night. High tide was set for 2 a.m. Fairfax County opened a shelter at Edison High School as a precaution.

Locally, Southern Maryland appeared to be hardest hit. Mark O'Brien awoke yesterday at his St Mary's home to a flooded yard, and he knew instantly it was the beginning of something terrible. By noon, he and his girlfriend had moved one car a half-mile inland. By afternoon, the lights and phone lines had gone out. So, with the last few hours of the daylight fading, they frantically stacked all their possessions on tables and couches -- all the while keeping an eye on the waves sloshing on what used to be their lawn.

"I would definitely call this house waterfront property now," O'Brien said by cellphone as waves carried pieces of an old pier and crab pots past his window. "Whatever we can carry with us out of here may be all we can save at this point. It's the pictures and albums we're worried about most."

About 250 people were ordered to evacuate from their homes on St. George Island after the only road to the mainland became submerged under two feet of water, said emergency managements officials there.

"At this moment, St. Mary's County seems to be getting the brunt of the storm, with quite a bit of flooding in lower-lying areas," said Teresa Chapman, a regional administrator with the Maryland Emergency Management Agency who was dispatched to Southern Maryland yesterday.

County emergency management officials opened a temporary shelter at Leonardtown High School, and a shelter for pets was up and running at the county fairgrounds, Chapman said.

A slew of rain-related accidents -- mostly fender-benders -- was reported across the region yesterday. The highest-profile mishap involved a Metrobus carrying two passengers in Temple Hills that became stuck in a sinkhole for at least an hour, a Metro spokeswoman said.

But unlike the June storm, in which several roads and highways were closed, most streets fared fine yesterday.

The rain was expected to end by this morning, and the winds were expected to calm down as the storm moved north. Ernesto had made stops in Haiti, Cuba, Florida and the Carolinas before hitting the region.

Dominion Virginia Power was working at full staff and had called in extra contractors from nearby areas. Pepco employees were told to keep their cellphones and pagers nearby and to come to work with a packed bag so they could go where the storm hit hardest, spokesman Robert Dobkins said.

By 5 p.m., Dominion Power was working to restore electricity to 307,000 customers throughout Virginia. Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. reported more than 60,000 outages, and Pepco estimated nearly 30,000.

For the most part, the toll of yesterday's storm depended on where one was standing -- in a flooded yard, a dark house or under the shelter of an awning, sipping an iced tea.

Alex Cochrane, 28, a Manassas resident, slouched in a chair under the eaves of a Starbucks on Sudley Road with tea in front of him on a table. He was in no rush to drink it. "It's my last weekend of vacation time," he said, staring at the rain. "I was planning to go swimming."

Instead, he settled into his new plan.

"Chilling at Starbucks," Cochrane said.

Few of yesterday's other latte-seekers seemed worried about their homes becoming flooded. Katie Jacoby, 30, of Manassas said she thought it was "nice out" and that she welcomed the storms after a hot, dry August.

"My plants are happy," she said, "and if my plants are happy, I'm happy."

As for those at the their weekend destination, there was nothing to do but cope.

In Ocean City, a few plastic-wrapped visitors bent into the wind to see what a tropical storm felt like. A couple in a sport-utility vehicle watched through the windshield, shaking their heads and snapping pictures of the wild sea. Cars created breakers of a different sort along the coastal highway as they whacked large pools of standing water, and some played dodge ball with garbage cans and milk crates that skittered across the road.

At a Sunsations store, Stephanie Resser and her brother killed time shopping. They were leaving early, chased away from an annual family gathering by the weather and car troubles. "I'm still going to have to pay for a tanning bed when I get home," said Resser, who lives in Shiremanstown, Pa.

The malls, roads and hotels seemed vacant. But business thrived at the movie theater, where manager Andrew Seyler called it the "busiest day for the past couple weeks."

The Liquor Mart also fared well.

"For this period of the day, it's pretty steady," Cristina Camaras, 26, a Romanian student who came to Ocean City to work for the summer.

"The bars will be packed today -- stay in, watch TV and drink all day," a patron interjected before heading out the door with a bottle of Appletini mix and a bottle of Jagermesiter.

Staff writers Fredrick Kunkle, Nick Miroff, Robert Samuels, Paul Schwarzman and William Wan contributed to this report.