Cleanup, closures continue on GW Parkway after ferocious storms rip through DC area – WTOP News

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The D.C. region continues to recover after Saturday’s severe storm ripped through the area, toppling trees, and knocking out power for thousands across the area. Here’s what you need to know.

• Traffic Impact: Parts of the George Washington Memorial Parkway were closed Monday as crews remove trees, branches and other debris from the road — and the closure could last most of the week.
• Current Outages: As of Tuesday morning, the number of customers without power continue to dwindle as power companies work to restore electricity to residences.

Forecast

As August begins, Tuesday and Wednesday will have similar weather as there will be sunshine and very low humidity with dew point in the 50s, and warm afternoon highs in the mid-80s. Skies will be clear Tuesday night to see a rare super blue moon shining bright in the sky and a NASA Rocket Launch, according to 7News First Alert meteorologist Brian van de Graaff.

It will be more humid on Thursday with dew points around 70 degrees. There is an isolated chance for a shower or storm on Thursday and Friday.

The first weekend of August will be warm and muggy, van de Graaff said.

• TUESDAY: Mostly sunny, low humidity. Highs in the mid-80s. Winds: North 5-10 mph.
• TUESDAY EVENING: Mainly clear. Lows: 58-65. Winds: Northeast 5 mph
• WEDNESDAY: Partly to mostly sunny. Highs in the mid-80s. Winds: North to Southeast 5-10 mph.
• THURSDAY: Partly to mostly cloudy, breezy with chance of rain and storms. Highs in the mid-80s. Wind: South 10 to 15 mph with gusts of up to 25 mph.

Cleanup to close GW Parkway for days

Part of the George Washington Parkway has been shuttered as crews work to clear trees and other debris that have fallen across the roadway.

The North Parkway, from Spout Run Parkway to the Capital Beltway, remains closed — except for the northbound lanes from Route 123 to the Capital Beltway, the National Park Service said in a news release Monday afternoon. The southbound lanes are blocked between the Capital Beltway and Roosevelt Bridge, including the southbound lanes of Spout Run Parkway.

Drivers should plan ahead as the park service said it could take three to four days to clear the road.

The closure is the same part of the parkway that is undergoing a long-term rehab project.

WTOP Traffic reporter Dave Dildine said the high winds damaged trees in the long-term work zone where traffic control devices will possibly need to be inspected.

The extended closure of the parkway is further complicated by the parallel closure of Canal Road in D.C. due to the downed trees and wires — since the two work as a pair, Dildine said.

Drivers headed to and from the Chain Bridge are still encountering road blocks on Canal Road and the northern part of Arizona Avenue near Loughboro Road, where damage from the storm was most extreme. Like the GW Parkway, it could take days to reopen those roads, Dildine said.

Parts of MacArthur Boulevard are also closed for emergency utility work near Glen Echo.

Foxhall Road and Massachusetts Avenue are both open as of early Monday afternoon.

You can see a map of other road closures in D.C. on an interactive map released by District officials.

Where outages stand

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser toured some of the hardest-hit areas of Northwest D.C. Monday afternoon along with officials with Pepco.

As of Monday afternoon, Pepco had restored power for about 90% of customers, Pepco’s Valencia McClure said during a news conference.

At the height of the outages, McClure said about 70,000 Pepco customers across the region were without power.

McLure asked for patience as crews continued to work to restore power and said Pepco expects to have power restored for all customers by 3 p.m. Tuesday.

Memories of 2012 derecho

The storm was marked by powerful winds, including one monster gust recorded at George Washington University’s Mount Vernon campus in Foxhall Village that notched a whopping 84 mph, according to the National Weather Service.

“We saw some pretty significant damage to a couple of houses and vehicles,” Bowser told reporters. “We were able to talk to some residents who were in their homes during the storm, and were pretty terrified by it.”

She added that “sometimes when we hear numbers, we can’t appreciate it…I don’t really know what it means to be 85 mph. But it takes down some pretty significant trees.”

Christopher Rodriguez, director of the D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, said the storm brought back thoughts of the devastating 2012 derecho.

He said that the “extreme heat” that brought alarmingly high temperatures to the D.C. area last week along with a cold front approaching from the west and the extreme humidity in the air caused a downburst.

“What happens is a lot of wind and a lot of rain hit the ground very fast,” Rodriguez said.

The storms very rapidly sprang up, he said. As of 2 p.m. Saturday, the radar was showing “absolutely no systems in the area,” he said. But shortly after 4 p.m., the winds were howling and dumping buckets of rain.

Outages

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