Outages Reported; Gusts Not Over Yet
By Nick Miroff and Philip Rucker
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
The angry remnants of a mighty nor'easter lashed the region with wind gusts of up to 60 miles an hour yesterday, making a mess of airports, roadways and hairdos as the big weekend storm bullied its way out of the area.
The heavy winds were expected to ease overnight, the National Weather Service said, but gusts could still reach 40 mph today, spokesman Brandon Peloquin said.
"It was a deep, strong storm, and we're in the hot spot for the highest winds," he said.
More rain is forecast for Thursday, but by Friday temperatures are expected to reach the 60s and sunny skies should return for the weekend.
Record amounts of rain for April 15 were tallied Sunday at Reagan National Airport (2.41 inches) and Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (2.52 inches), and the soggy conditions left trees especially vulnerable to the raging gusts that followed. More than 80,000 customers in Virginia, Maryland and the District were without power at some point yesterday, and the outages forced the closure or early dismissal of several schools.
In Montgomery County, three elementary schools closed early after losing power. In Charles County, Henry E. Lackey High School, Matthew Henson Middle School and Malcolm Elementary School didn't open at all because of overnight outages.
"At this point, we have every indication that the power will be restored to those schools," Charles schools spokeswoman Katie O'Malley Simpson said.
In Frederick County, Thurmont Primary School, Myersville Elementary School and Wolfsville Elementary School didn't open, spokeswoman Peggy Ballew said.
Power was expected to be restored to the affected schools last night, and classes are expected to resume this morning, school officials said.
Fairfax County schools closed three hours early yesterday because of concerns about the safety of children whose classes are in trailers. "They are not brick-and-mortar, so they are not going to be as safe," said Dean Tistadt, chief operating officer for facilities and transportation services.
"You can also have a lot of debris flying around," he said. "The policy errs on the side of caution."
The winds prompted school systems in Loudoun, Prince William and other Virginia counties to cancel outdoor afternoon activities.
As of yesterday evening, Dominion Virginia Power reported that about 23,000 customers remained without power. About 9,400 were without power in Montgomery, about 15,000 in Prince George's County and about 11,900 in Anne Arundel County, utilities reported.
In the District, about 3,300 residents were without power, Pepco reported.
"Our crews are working to restore power, but the high winds are making that difficult," Pepco spokeswoman Debbi Jarvis said. "We'll restore one area, and then another area goes out."
At 5 p.m. yesterday, there were 9,000 customers without power in Southern Maryland, according to the Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative, which serves Charles, St. Mary's and Calvert counties and a portion of Prince George's.
The gusts were so powerful that Virginia Department of Transportation crews had to untwist traffic lights at some intersections, where the wind had spun the signals to face the wrong direction, VDOT spokesman Ryan Hall said. There were also widespread reports of downed tree limbs blocking roads.
At Dulles International Airport, 45 mph gusts limited air traffic to one runway, canceling some flights and creating delays of more than three hours on average. Things were running more smoothly at BWI and National, where conditions weren't as severe, the Federal Aviation Administration reported.
A high-wind warning from the National Weather Service extends today from the Shenandoah Valley to the Baltimore area and east into West Virginia.
"It's been a one-two punch," said Peloquin, who attributed the high winds to the extreme low-pressure system in the Northeast and a high-pressure system over the Midwest. The Washington region sits in the middle of the two pressure systems, he said.
"You get heavy rain and flooding, then you get strong, gusty winds, and that's the stage we're at now."
Staff writer Maria Glod contributed to this report.
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