Foust: Storm Communication Has Been 'Phenomenal'

Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust's McLean home has no power Tuesday morning, but he is praising Fairfax County, the Virginia Department of Transportation and Dominion for improving response times to Hurricane Sandy, which hit the East Coast on Monday evening.

He said the response is markedly better than the response to the June 29 derecho, which knocked out power to hundreds of thousands in the D.C. metro region.

"I think the response has been significantly better than after the derecho - the preparation and the response," Foust said.

Communicating storm-related information with the public and warning residents about dangers was drastically better, too, he said.

"The county has done an outstanding job getting out statuses and information that was helpful to the people," Foust said. "It’s been excellent. The communication with the supervisors was one of my biggest concerns (in June). Staff was isolated in the emergency operations center and it was difficult to communicate with them. This time it’s been phenomenal."

Trees are down throughout the Dranesville District, which includes McLean, Greats Falls, Herndon and parts of Tysons Corner, Vienna and Falls Church. At one point, lanes in both directions were blocked on Georgetown Pike, Old Dominion Drive and Lewinsville Road, three major McLean thoroughfares.

Thousands are still without power. Dominion has already dispatched crews to areas that were left in the dark for nearly a week back in June.

"Great Falls in the derecho storm was really a problem," Foust said. "I just got a message that Dominion is going to move its mobile operations center to Great Falls this afternoon. They know that is an area of concern. They are going to have some activity out there this afternoon. They have focus and that’s a clear message I’m getting."