Storms Topple Trees, Power Lines; Passengers Stranded at Airports

A line of strong thunderstorms moved through the Washington area last night, knocking down trees and dozens of power lines, leaving more than 20,000 homes without electricity and thousands of people stranded at airports after dozens of flights were canceled.

At Reagan National and Dulles International airports, officials said that hundreds of people would probably be forced to stay in terminals overnight. Courtney Prebich, a spokeswoman for the airports authority that runs Dulles and National, said workers were preparing to pass out blankets and keep concessions open.

At Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport, more than 50 flights were delayed or canceled because of wind gusts of up to 50 mph and violent thunderstorms, authorities said.

The storms, caused by a slow-moving cold front, triggered downpours from central Virginia to areas northeast of Baltimore, said Calvin Meadows, a National Weather Service forecaster. The front dumped up to two inches of rain near BWI from about 8 to 10 p.m.

Two to six inches of rain were expected south of Washington as the storm lingered late last night, forecasters said.

Power companies reported that more than 20,000 customers were without service at 11 p.m., including almost 9,000 in Anne Arundel and Howard counties, about 7,500 in the District and Montgomery and Prince George's counties, and 6,500 in Northern Virginia.

Flash-flood warnings were issued until this morning for low-lying and urban areas, officials said.

Downed power lines and damaged trees were particularly widespread in parts of Prince George's County, where officials reported problems with damaged transformers near College Park, Oxon Hill and Bowie. In Virginia, some lanes of Interstate 66 near Manassas were closed last night because of downed trees.