High winds down trees and wires, causing dozens of outages in area

March 2, 2018 Community News, Police and Fire
Combo image of trees down

Trees down on Old Mount Vernon Road. (Image courtesy of @TonyCastrilli)

Last updated at 8:45 p.m. —

High winds that swept through the D.C. area early Friday morning have taken down numerous trees and power lines, leaving thousands in the Richmond Highway area without power.

Dominion Energy was reporting  351,969 customers around the state were without power as of 8:30 p.m., down from 386,692 at 4 p.m. Nearly 123,000 Dominion customers in Fairfax County are without power at 8:30 p.m., up from 112,626 at 4:30.

Thousands of people in the Richmond Highway area remain without power as of 8:30 p.m. The hardest hit location remains the Woodlawn area, with nearly 3,500 people in the area between Frye Road and Jeff Todd Way. Thousands more residents around the highway are without power due to dozens of separate outages from Huntington to Groveton to Mount Vernon. 

You can track outages on the Dominion Energy website, but Dominion has not posted time estimates for when power will be restored. 

screenshot of outages

Outages as of 8:30 p.m.

The Fairfax County Police have been giving updates on their blog about closed intersections and roads, including the following locations (as of 8:30 p.m.:

  • Pole Road and Frye Road – Tree with wires down (now open)
  • Lukens Lane and Richmond Highway – Tree and wires in roadway (now open)
  • Pohick Road and Richmond Highway – Tree in roadway (now open)
  • 6500 Dorset Drive – Trees and wires in roadway (now open)
  • Lukens Lane and Halley Farm Court (now open)
  • Richmond Highway and Highland Avenue – Southbound lanes closed due to fallen wires (now open)
  • 4500 Dolphin Lane – Wires in roadway 
  • 4003 Ivanhoe Lane – Tree in roadway (now open)
  • 8100 block Wellington Road – Tree and wires in roadway (now open)
  • 6103 Woodmont Road – Tree in roadway (now open)
  • 8921 Union Farm Road – Tree and wires in roadway
  • Mount Vernon Memorial Highway and Old Mill Road – Tree in roadway (now open)
  • 1024 Gladstone Place – Tree in roadway

The National Weather Service’s high wind warning is in effect until Saturday at 6 a.m. The NWS has reported gusts as high as 67 mph at Dulles Airport and 62 mph at National Airport. Sustained winds of 30-40 mph are expected throughout the day Friday, with gusts between 60-70 mph possible. 

This story has been updated with the latest road closures and power outage numbers.