trees down

Arlington County still assessing damage from Saturday’s storm

By ARLnow.com
1/10

The impacts from Saturday’s severe storms were so widespread that Arlington County is still assessing damage.

Power has since been restored to the more than 34,000 Dominion customers in the dark after the storms, and the GW Parkway completed its reopening yesterday after crews removed hundreds of fallen and potentially hazardous trees. But other damage to both private and county property is still being addressed in Arlington.

“The storms on Saturday, July 29, caused widespread damage, resulting in power outages (both public and private buildings) and travel disruptions (caused by fallen trees),” Arlington County spokesman Ryan Hudson recounted to ARLnow. “As staff continue to assess damage, it might be some time before the ultimate impact of the storm is known.”

“County crews continue to investigate and address the tickets submitted to the online Request for Service tool,” Hudson said. “Much of the clean-up focuses on debris blocking roadways and waterways, and tree removal.”

The scale of the damage is reminiscent of the 2012 derecho, though the latter was even more widespread. Saturday’s storms concentrated more of the damage near the river and in north-central portions of Arlington, roughly between Route 50 and Langston Blvd, including the Orange Line corridor.

Still, there remains plenty to clean up.

“The Solid Waste Bureau has collected 246 tons of brush so far since Saturday,” Peter Golkin, spokesman for ARLnow’s Dept. of Environmental Services, tells ARLnow. “The average number of scheduled brush pick-ups is about 70 per day out of a max of 150 available. They’ve hit the max for Tuesday, [Wednesday and Thursday].”

Arlington residents can schedule brush pickups online.

Hudson said Arlington’s 911 call center received a total of 1,618 calls for service on Saturday between 5 p.m. and midnight, a 225% spike in call volume. The Arlington County Emergency Communications Center received a peak volumes of nearly 500 calls between 5-6 p.m.

County employees have inspected 16 homes damaged by the storm, by some combination of strong winds and falling trees, branches, and power lines. Of those, four were determined to have major or severe damage, Hudson said.

Arlington’s Dept. of Parks and Recreation has also been busy since the storm, with lots of fallen trees and branches in local parks and along busy trails.

Storm damage closed Rocky Run Park near Courthouse until it reopened yesterday. The storm also damaged power lines at Gulf Branch Nature Center, leading to a power outage and closure today.

Spout Run Parkway and northbound GW Parkway reopening today

By ARLnow.com
Map showing GW Parkway closed on July 30 (via Google Maps)

After removing several hundred trees, the National Park Service says it’s reopening Spout Run Parkway and portions of the northern GW Parkway today.

The busy commuter routes have been closed in both direction since Saturday’s severe storms.

A northbound lane of the GW Parkway reopened at 1 p.m. and the Spout Run Parkway is expected to reopen in both directions “later today.” Southbound lanes of the GW Parkway remain closed through much of Arlington as crews work to remove “hazardous trees,” NPS said.

The remaining closures may last another day or two.

More, below, from a park service press release.

The entire northbound lane of George Washington Memorial Parkway reopened today at 1 p.m. The northbound and southbound lanes of Spout Run Parkway are expected to reopen later today.

The southbound lane of the Parkway between I-495 and Spout Run Parkway remains closed as crews continue to remove hazardous trees along more than four miles of the roadway.

“The safety of our visitors and staff is our first priority,” Charles Cuvelier, George Washington Memorial Parkway superintendent, said. “Yesterday, crews removed 250-325 hazardous trees, resulting in 100 dump-truck and 15 chipper-truck loads, and more than 500 tons of wood and debris.”

For more information and updates, please visit our website at www.nps.gov/gwmp or contact Christopher Hershey at 202-439-7323.

UPDATED: Power restored to most but GW Parkway to remain closed for several days

By ARLnow.com
1/5

(Updated at 4:05 p.m.) The herculean effort to clean up from Saturday’s storms and restore power to tens of thousands is continuing Monday morning.

The GW Parkway remains closed to most traffic between Spout Run Parkway and the Beltway — and is expected to remain closed until later this week, as crews work to clear a large number of downed trees and branches.

The southbound lanes of Spout Run Parkway, where at least one car was damaged by a fallen tree Saturday, also remain closed.

From a press release issued Monday afternoon:

The George Washington Memorial Parkway is currently experiencing closures due to the aftermath of Saturday’s storm. Crews are diligently working to clear fallen trees from the roadway, and these closures are expected to last for the next few days.

To enhance and expedite the restoration process, George Washington Memorial Parkway has deployed a total of five crews, including its own team, assistance from the National Capital Parks-East (NACE), and three additional emergency contracting crews.

The North Parkway, from Spout Run Parkway to I-495, remains closed, except for the northbound lanes from Route 123 to I-495. Additionally, the southbound lanes of the Spout Run Parkway are also closed.

These closures are necessary to ensure the removal of hazardous trees, including those that have fallen across the roadway and broken limbs that pose a risk to travel lanes. The recovery work is estimated to be completed within three to four days.

Round-the-clock power restoration work whittled down the peak of more than 34,000 without electricity in Arlington — half that of the 2012 derecho — to 3,154 as of 11:15 a.m. Monday, according to Dominion’s website.

The remaining small outages are scattered throughout the county, though most are concentrated in north-central Arlington — between Route 50 and Langston Blvd — including the Orange Line corridor, which was particularly hard hit.

Throughout Northern Virginia, 4,732 Dominion customers remained in the dark this morning, according to the power company. Crews have been working long shifts and overnight to restore power, with much of that effort happening in Arlington.

As of 4 p.m., the outages were down to 2,029 in Arlington and 2,338 throughout Northern Virginia.

More storm stories are emerging as the cleanup continues.

In Courthouse, a heavy metal table was blown off a condo patio during the storm’s intense winds and is now stuck high in a tree, above a sidewalk.

“The tree is right across the street from the entrance of the Palatine apartment building,” a tipster told ARLnow on Sunday. By Monday morning, however, the table had been removed by a tree maintenance crew, the tipster said.

Trees came down throughout Arlington, taking down utility lines, blocking roads, and in at least eight known cases falling onto houses. One unlucky family was on their way to Walt Disney World in Orlando when a huge tree smashed into their stately brick house near Lacey Woods Park, we’re told.

For those on the go, it’s not just drivers who have to deal with fallen trees and other debris. A trail cleanup is planned for 5:30 p.m. today on the Mount Vernon Trail near Rosslyn, which “got hit particularly hard,” according to a social media post.

Additionally, numerous trees are reported to be down on the Custis Trail and at least one park is closed due to storm damage.

“Rocky Run Park is closed for maintenance due to damages caused by the July 29 storms,” said Arlington’s Dept. of Parks and Recreation. “Please do not go onto the park grounds.”

Arlington National Cemetery, meanwhile, is also closed today except for funerals amid widespread tree damage at the nation’s most hallowed ground.

More storm damage photos from social media, below.

BREAKING: Widespread power outages, trees down and other damage in wake of storms

By ARLnow.com
1/39

Update at 11:20 a.m. on 7/31/23 — The number of outages in Arlington is down to 3,154. The GW Parkway remains closed.

Update at 9 a.m. on 7/30/23 — More than 20,000 Dominion customers are still without power as of Sunday morning.

(Updated at 8:30 p.m.) Tens of thousands are without power in Arlington after severe storms ripped through the county Saturday evening.

As of 6 p.m. Dominion was reporting 34,068 customers without power in Arlington alone and more than 83,000 across Northern Virginia. The outages were still above 28,000 as of 8 p.m., suggesting many may remain in the dark overnight.

The peak outage figure from today’s storm is about half that of the 2012 derecho.

The storm damage is widespread and includes numerous trees and power lines down across the county. Significant damage was reported along the Orange Line corridor — Virginia Square, Clarendon to Courthouse, and Rosslyn — including fencing blown over, street lights topped, trees and branches down, and construction debris scattered.

The intersection of Washington Blvd and N. Highland Street in Clarendon was being completely blocked as of 8 p.m. due to window panes that blew out of a building during the storm. A photo sent to ARLnow showed a shattered window pane that fell onto a parked car.

Numerous roads were blocked or impeded after the storm, including some major routes like I-66 and the GW Parkway.

“Numerous trees and large branches blew down blocking eastbound [I-66]” near Rosslyn, according to the National Weather Service; the lanes reportedly reopened around 6:30 p.m. U.S. Park Police is also reporting the GW Parkway blocked near Spout Run due to trees down. Heavy traffic is still reported on both routes as of 6:45 p.m.

Both directions of Spout Run are blocked due to trees down, including one said to be down on a vehicle near Lorcom Lane, per scanner traffic.

ART buses were delayed due to the storm damaged, according to Arlington Transit.

Trees are down on at least eight houses, including one on the unit block of S. Fillmore Street, where people were reported to be trapped. They have since been reported to be out and safe. Other trees were reported down on houses on the 900 block of N. Cleveland Street, the 5200 block of 11th Road N. and the 3000 block of 17th Road S., as well as in yards, on fences, and across neighborhood streets.

A number of structure fires were also reported, mostly due to downed wires or lightning strikes.

Just after the storm passed a house was on fire in the Barcroft neighborhood, near the intersection of S. Pershing Drive and 2nd Street S. Another residential structure fire was reported on the 4900 block of 7th Road S.  As of 6:10 p.m., Arlington County firefighters were responding to a report of a tree down on a house and power lines sparking on top of the roof, on the 2900 block of 22nd Street N. in Maywood.

Additionally, the fire department responded to several calls of smoke inside of homes and other buildings, as well as calls for stuck elevators as a result of power outages.

Arlington fire department resources are maxed out, according to scanner traffic. Authorities are asking residents not to call 911 except in the event of an emergency due to the high volume of calls.

Among the other reports of storm damage in Arlington:

  • 23rd Street S. and S. Hayes Street: 23rd Street S. blocked by downed trees and utility lines
  • N. Illinois Street and Washington Blvd: Numerous trees down, including one that fell into a house
  • 19th Street N. and N. Nelson Street: Trees down blocking street
  • N. Kirkwood Road south of Langston Blvd: Trees down blocking street
  • 19th Street N. and N. Nelson Street: Trees down
  • S. Woodrow Street and 2nd Street S.: Trees and wires down
  • Rosslyn (various locations): Fences blown down and construction debris scattered
  • Wilson Blvd and N. Lexington Street: Tree and utility lines down
  • N. Lexington Street and 8th Road N.: Utility lines down
  • N. Garfield Street and Clarendon Blvd: Utilities line down blocking road
  • Gulf Branch Nature Center: People are unable to leave the parking lot due to a downed tree and lines
  • N. Pershing Drive and N. Fillmore Street — Road blocked by downed tree
  • N. Jackson Street and N. Pershing Drive — Trees down, blocking road
  • Washington Blvd and 13th Street N. — Construction fencing down in front of apartment building under construction in Clarendon
  • WB Route 50 at N. Courthouse Road — Tree down, partially across road
  • 10th Street N. and Route 50 — Traffic lights are “backwards, causing a major issue,” per scanner
  • WB Route 50 at N. Edison Street — Tree down, blocking two lanes
  • 2500 block of N. Upland Street — Tree down onto car, blocking road
  • Key Blvd and N. Herndon Street — Trees down, blocking road
  • S. Wakefield Street near Barcroft Elementary — Tree down onto wires
  • 1700 block of S. Garfield Street — Tree down blocking road
  • 100 block of N. Oakland Street — Tree down across road
  • 10th Street N. between Wilson Blvd and Washington Blvd — Police are blocking intersections due to power outage and debris
  • 2nd Street N. and N. Highland Street — Tree down blocking roadway
  • N. Kenilworth Street and 19th Street N. — Trees down blocking road
  • Arlington Ridge Road near 23rd Street S. — Trees down, road blocked

“There’s stuff down everywhere,” said ARLnow staff photographer Jay Westcott, after photographing damage across the county. “It’s almost like the derecho in 2012.”

Westcott said he saw many drivers “Wild West-ing it” through darkened traffic signals, rather than treating the intersections as a four-way stop.

The line of storms that crossed Arlington packed damaging wind gusts. A 58 mph gust was recorded at Hoffman-Boston Elementary, while a 60 mph gust was recorded at National Airport. Across the Potomac, a 84 mph gust was reported at George Washington University’s Mount Vernon Campus, according to the National Weather Service.

Some views of the storm and the damage across Arlington via social media:

(more…)

Power outage and road closure after tree falls on utility lines

By ARLnow.com
Reported power outage along Old Dominion Drive (via Dominion)

A hundred-some Dominion customers are without electricity along Old Dominion Drive after a tree fell on power lines.

The outage is affecting the Rock Spring neighborhood in far northern Arlington, including the area around Discovery Elementary and Williamsburg Middle School. A portion of Fairfax County is also within the power outage boundaries, as listed on the Dominion website.

Old Dominion Drive is expected to remain closed near the Arlington-Fairfax County border for at least four hours, as the fallen tree is removed and the lines repaired, according to scanner traffic.

Dominion lists the estimated time of power restoration as between noon and 3 p.m.

The outage comes as thunderstorms are expected in the D.C. area this afternoon.

UPDATED: Large power outage reported in Clarendon area

By ARLnow.com
Clarendon and Lyon Park power outage (via Dominion)

Update at 3:20 p.m. — The number of outages is down to just over 600, according to Dominion. Police are in the process of removing cones from intersections with traffic signals that are working again.

Earlier: More than 3,500 homes and businesses are currently without power in Arlington due to a reported transformer fire.

The outage is centered around the Clarendon and Lyon Park neighborhoods. Initial reports suggest that a tree fell on power lines somewhere in the area and sparked the transformer fire that is causing the large outage.

Traffic signals are said to be dark at numerous busy intersections. Police are responding to assist with traffic control.

Another several hundred Dominion customers were initially reported to be in the dark around Courthouse, though power is back on in most of the neighborhood.

One office worker in Courthouse described experiencing 3-4 power surges that “went through the building like a wind blowing… about 2 minutes from start to finish.”

In addition to calls about non-functioning traffic lights, police and fire radio channels have been busy with reports of smoke coming from sidewalk grates — a normal occurrence in commercial areas during outages, caused by diesel generators starting up.

As of 2 p.m., Dominion’s website estimates a timeframe of between 5-8 p.m. for restoration of power.

More storms expected today, after weekend storm fells numerous trees in Arlington

By ARLnow.com
Trees damaged by storm along Military Road at 38th Street N. (photos courtesy Marcia Nordgren)

Saturday night’s severe storms caused significant tree damage in parts of northern Arlington.

The southern reaches of the storms that flooded portions of D.C. and suburban Maryland also packed a punch in Arlington, ripping through the northern corner of the county with heavy rain and high winds. Other parts of Arlington only received moderate rainfall.

“Large trees were blown down along George Washington Parkway at Spout Run Parkway, some up to 4 feet in diameter and up to 50 feet tall,” the National Weather Service noted in a damage report. “Several trees blew down near the intersection of VA-120 North Glebe Road and Military Road.”

The tree damage along Glebe shut down lanes between Military Road and Chain Bridge for several hours that night and again on the morning of July 4.

A reader also reported tree damage near the corner of Military Road and 38th Street N.

“I heard what sounded like a jet engine speeding up, then came an acceleration of tremendous wind and rain,” Marcia Nordgren told ARLnow. “I had zero visibility. Then my trees and branches came down. It appears that they twisted.”

Nordgren said she thought it might have been a tornado that came through, but there was no tornado observed on weather radar — which would have prompted a Tornado Warning — and the National Weather Service tells ARLnow that it is not planning to send a storm survey team to Arlington to investigate the damage.

Meanwhile, the area is set for another series of active weather days between today and Thursday. This afternoon and evening scattered strong to severe thunderstorms are expected in the D.C. region, NWS says.

UPDATED: Power outages building as snow accumulates and branches snap

By ARLnow.com
Power outages in Arlington just before 12:15 p.m., amid heavy snow (via Dominion)

(Updated at 2:45 p.m.) Roads around Arlington are impassible, schools and the federal government are closed, and to make matters worse thousands of homes and businesses are without power throughout Arlington.

Amid the heavy, wet snow — some 6+ inches have fallen so far, with a couple of hours of additional snowfall expected — there have been numerous reports of branches snapping, trees falling and power lines down around the county. In some areas, power lines are sparking or on fire, with snow-laden branches leaning against them.

Among other reports, first responders are on scene of a significant power line fire on Robert Walker Place, near Taylor Elementary, according to scanner traffic. They have asked Dominion crews to expedite their response to the scene.

The fire department has also been dispatched to a report of a tree that fell into a house.  Most of the reports of tree damage are in North Arlington neighborhoods.

As of 2:45 p.m., Dominion reported 4,767 outages in Arlington — a number that has been steadily increasing. Of those, about 2,200 are part of a large outage centered around Marymount University’s main campus. Other small outages are spread across the county.

That’s still well below the more than 48,000 homes and businesses that are in the dark in neighboring Fairfax County as of 2:45 p.m., however. In all, Dominion is reporting more than 145,000 outages across Northern Virginia.

Some trees are also reported down across roads, including on N. Glebe Road near Chain Bridge and S. Arlington Ridge Road near Gunston Middle School. Additionally, the Bluemont Junction Trail is blocked by a fallen tree.

Local authorities, including Arlington police, continue to urge people to stay home and off the roads as the flakes keep falling.

As of noon, Arlington snow crews were in “Phase 2” of their response, focused on primary and secondary routes instead of neighborhood streets.

JUST IN: Widespread power outage in North Arlington amid reports of trees falling

By ARLnow.com
1/8

(Updated at 1:25 p.m.) Flooding is not the only imminent threat from today’s wild weather. The saturated ground and gusty winds have brought down several trees and large limbs around Arlington already, causing power outages.

As of 12:30 p.m. more than 2,250 homes and businesses were without power from Virginia Square to Bellevue Forest, with a large chunk of residential North Arlington in between, according to Dominion’s outage map. (The number dipped to 1,925 as of 1:15 p.m.)

Power flickered briefly in Ballston around noon, before coming back on. The outage knocked out traffic signals on Washington Blvd and Langston Blvd, among others. The Lyon Village Shopping Center, including The Italian Store, is also reportedly affected.

One likely cause is power lines that are down across Lorcom Lane near N. Edgewood Street, in the area of the Maywood and Woodmont neighborhoods. A falling tree took down the lines, which Dominion crews are now working to repair. Lorcom Lane is closed in the area.

The current estimated restoration time for the outage is listed as between 2-8 p.m, according to Dominion.

Meanwhile, more trees are likely to fall.

This morning the National Weather Service issued a statement cautioning about falling trees. NWS has received more than a dozen reports of trees falling around the region, including in Fairfax County where more than 5,000 Dominion customers are currently in the dark.

From NWS:

1122 AM EDT FRI OCT 29 2021

…GUSTY WINDS AND WET GROUND LEADING TO MINOR TREE DAMAGE…

GUSTY EASTERLY WINDS OF UP TO AROUND 40 MPH COMBINED WITH WET GROUND FROM RECENT RAINFALL IS RESULTING IN SPORADIC TREE AND POWER LINE DAMAGE. REMAIN ALERT IF TRAVELING THROUGH WOODED AREAS, AND AVOID THEM IF POSSIBLE.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Another APS Sexual Harassment Incident — “The most recent case of sexual harassment being discussed on social media happened at Swanson Middle School. Students told their parents two weeks ago cheerleaders were being called sexual names and having their body parts touched inappropriately during the school day. The Swanson Middle School principal sent out a letter alerting families… Some say that was only revealed after the community caught wind of the incident which makes them now question — how many situations are not brought to light?” [Fox 5]

Two Libraries Reopening on Sundays — “The slow resumption of Arlington library hours continues on Oct. 31, when Central Library and the Columbia Pike branch will resume Sunday service for the first time since the onset of the pandemic. Those two libraries will be open 1 to 5 p.m. on Sundays.” [Sun Gazette]

Tree Falls Near Wakefield HS — “First tree down across a road that we’ve heard during [Tuesday’s] windy weather… This is reportedly at 25th Street S. and S. Dinwiddie Street, a couple of blocks from Wakefield High School.” [Twitter]

Activists Decry Tree Loss from New Homes — “Arlington County Board members say they will take under advisement concerns that a quirk – critics call it a loophole – in the local zoning ordinance encourages developers to clear-cut certain lots to maximize the footprint of new construction out of proportion to surrounding homes. The matter was raised by activist Anne Bodine at the Oct. 16 County Board meeting.” [Sun Gazette]

More Trees to Be Removed from Water Park — “The board voted 5-0 on Oct. 19 to approve modifications to the plan for the waterpark (located at 1601 Crystal Drive and now being rebranded as National Landing Water Park) that will see seven additional trees removed from the site, while one tree that previously had been slated for removal will be retained… Removing these trees ‘is not ideal,’ acknowledged Olivia Sontag of the county government’s Department of Planning, Housing and Community Development, but staff concluded it represents a fair tradeoff for a package that includes the planting of 11 additional buffer trees.” [Sun Gazette]

Chamber to Help Teach Financial Skills — ” The Arlington Chamber of Commerce is proud to announce the launch of a new program to support early childhood education providers in partnership with 20 Degrees. The Early Childhood Financial Resiliency Accelerator focuses on teaching child care providers the business and financial technical skills necessary to maintain and to grow their businesses and on building a community of practice among child care providers. The program will be available at no cost to the participants thanks to support from Presenting Sponsor Amazon as well as the PNC Foundation.” [Arlington Chamber of Commerce]

TV Station Broadcasts from Outdoor Lab — “The Phoebe Hall Knipling Outdoor Laboratory is a 225-acre facility in Fauquier County that provides a natural classroom for Arlington Public School students. The Arlington Outdoor Lab is designed to give Arlington students an opportunity to learn science, outdoor skills, arts, and humanities in a natural setting. Brian van de Graaf takes us to Broad Run, VA for a look.” [WJLA]

It’s Wednesday — 🍃 Today will be breezy, but less so than yesterday. It will start mostly cloudy, then gradually become sunny, with a high near 67. Northwest wind 13 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph. Sunrise at 7:30 a.m. and sunset at 6:13 p.m. Tomorrow, it will be partly sunny, with a high near 63.

Get the Morning Notes four hours early on most days (and get text alerts for urgent stories) by joining the ARLnow Press Club.

BREAKING: NWS Confirms Tornado Ripped Through North Arlington Neighborhoods

By ARLnow.com
1/57

(Updated at 9:30 p.m.) The National Weather Service has confirmed that a tornado caused the widespread damage seen in several North Arlington neighborhoods today.

The tornado struck around 9 p.m. Thursday night, touching down near the intersection of Lee Highway and N. Glebe Road. It was rated as an EF1 — the second-lowest on the Enhanced Fujita scale — and cut a 125 yard-wide path of damage as it made its way east through several neighborhoods, before moving into D.C. Maximum winds were estimated at 90 mph.

The twister’s 4.4 mile path ended on the National Mall, between the Washington Monument and the White House. A second tornado, rated EF0, struck near H Street NE in the District, according to forecasters.

Tornado path (via National Weather Service)

In Arlington last night, the tornado uprooted trees, tore siding and shingles off houses, and turned trampolines and branches into projectiles.

Residents tell ARLnow they had just seconds from when their phones started blaring the Tornado Warning, shortly before 9 p.m., and when the rotating storm struck and caused havoc.

Much of the reported damage happened along the well-defined, roughly west-to-east line from the City of Falls Church and through Tara-Leeway Heights, Waverly Hills, Cherrydale and Lyon Village, before crossing the Potomac into D.C. along the National Mall.

Waverly Hills and Cherrydale suffered the worst of the storm’s fury, starting around Woodstock Park and moving along an easterly route just south of Lee Highway. The extent of the damage was evident this morning after the sun came up and chainsaws started buzzing over a large stretch of the neighborhoods.

At Woodstock Park this morning, children were playing despite the tree carnage that littered the park with fallen trees, branches and leaves. Jill Rabach was out surveying the damage to her house, just south of the park. An oak tree was leaning on her home’s roof and her next door neighbor’s fence was crushed by multiple falling trees.

“We heard the Tornado Warning and went to the basement,” Rabach recounted. “About 15 minutes later when all the noise died down we came upstairs and saw a little bit of damage not much. Power was out. By morning it was clear there was much more damage. All the houses on the street lost significant trees.”

“We’ve lived here for 15 years and there haven’t been many storms that blow that hard, that fast,” she added.

The damage continued along 20th Road N., east of the park, with tree crews hard at work clearing branches. Turning right onto N. Utah Street, the road was still blocked by a large fallen tree at 19th Road N.

Heading back up the street, more signs of a violent storm: Multiple downed trees damaged roofs, broke windows and crushed fences; siding from an unknown house lay next to a sidewalk; trash cans were lifted up and blown into neighboring yards. And stuck in a tree near the road was an unusual sight — a large trampoline.

A family in the area said their storm door swung upon so violently it became lodged into and damaged a railing.

“We got the Tornado Warning and within 30 seconds, our front door burst open. And the whole house shook and rattled,” said René Madigan. “Like it all had to have all happened at once. It pulled down all of our power lines… the house next door, it blew their door wide open, too. They have a lot more damage to their home than we have. We were blessed.”

Madigan recounted the sound of the storm as it struck the normally quiet residential neighborhood.

“I heard a horrible sound. Like it was a really horrible sound. And then the whole house just was doing this,” she said, shaking her arms. “And it just happened so fast.”

“Tornado! Get in!” Madigan recalled shouting as the family took cover.

“I heard it and I was in the basement,” Madigan’s husband said of the noise. “First I thought like a big china cabinet fell down. It sounded like… a really loud explosion.”

One street over, and also to the east, residents were out cleaning up. One house had a blue tarp on the roof, but a neighbor said nothing fell on it — shingles were ripped off at the height of the storm.

Over on N. Stafford Street, Jeff Jackson was picking up tree branches across the street from St. Agnes Catholic School in Cherrydale. The Arlington native now lives in Portland, Oregon, but is home taking care of his mother. He was at a friend’s house nearby as the storm approached.

(more…)

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