Outage Odyssey: McLean Resident Searches for Air-Conditioned Hotels
Seeking relief from a serious health problem.
My husband and I returned to our Potomac Hills home Monday afternoon, 48 hours after embarking on a beltway search for an air conditioned hotel.
Two hotels and $400 later, we had limited success.
The massive power outage that hit northern Virginia for two days had enormous consequences for many people. I had to flee from the oppressive heat.
I have a medical condition that requires me to stay out of the heat at all times. I have medicine worth thousands of dollars that needs to be refrigerated at all times, too. We put the medicine in an ice chest with all the ice we could salvage from the fridge, and we carted it with us.
And that’s how we started our sojourn Saturday at 4 a.m. when we realized the temperature hit 100 degrees, and we could not stay in our home because of the blackout.
We couldn't get through to any hotels in Tysons Corner.
All the circuits were down so we woke up our son in Indiana and he got us a room at the Embassy Suites in Old Town.
We thought we were OK until Sunday afternoon, when the hotel and some of Old Town was hit by a power outage. We made it down to the lobby before the last elevator was shut down.
Then we got in our air-conditioned car and drove around, while our kids in Indiana and North Carolina frantically searched for a hotel. Not easy since every hotel was booked with outage refugees.
They finally found us a room at the Westin at National Harbor where we looked over the river and marina.
It was great for 12 hours but then a blackout hit every hotel in the harbor around 11 a.m. Monday. We felt outraged, exhausted and desperate.
News8-TV saw my first McLean Patch story and came out to National Harbor to interview me for their ongoing coverage of the power blackout.
A neighbor called around noon to tell us the power was back on all over Potomac Hills. So we went home to a very hot house which took several hours to cool down.
This outage is no joke for anyone with a serious medical condition. It was no joke for me with a debilitating illness that cannot handle the heat.
Gerri Swarm
9:33 am on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Our family reserved a room at the Marriott Fairfield Inn at Chantilly/Dulles at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday morning and stayed until Monday with no problems at all. They were wonderful hosts! Indoor pool, complimentary breakfast!
J Kim
1:06 pm on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Currently at a hotel downtown to cool my expecting wife, toddler, and dog in need of a haircut. Worse, there's still no power to the McLean Greens and Stockwell Manor developments for the fourth day now with no relief in sight. I'm not sure if it's the snapped power pole at Great Falls and Lemon Streets, but I haven't seen a crew out there in as many days so all signs are starting to point to yes...especially when the McLean Province development (right next door) restored power yesterday...
CM Louis
5:40 pm on Friday, July 6, 2012
If climate control for health and medicines is critical to you, you'd be wise to install a generator or two in your home. You know, take control of and personal responsibility for ensuring the environment you require. After all, it's not unusual for parts of this area to lose power during storms.
Marie S.
1:55 pm on Saturday, July 7, 2012
Yes, a generator would be a very wise move for you. They only cost a couple hundred bucks for a small one that would power a small refrigerator (like the ones used in dorm rooms) a fan or two, and a small window unit A/C or a portable (on wheels) A/C unit. You can also cook many types of foods on your outdoor propane grill (I've done canned soup in a pot on the grill!). You do need to take responsibility for this situation, and it sounds like you already spent 3x the amount it would have cost you ...not to mention the headache...when you just could have been prepared in advance. I moved here from Florida, where power outages are very common, and this is what people there do. People here need to wise up and better prepare themselves in advance to survive without the comforts of electricity.