'Mother Nature Will Always Have the Last Word'

As damage assessments roll in, officials say it could have been worse.

Hurricane Irene, President Obama said in the days preceding the storm, was shaping up to be a "historic hurricane."  And it was, in some ways. To anyone with a flood-damaged home in Vermont, or stuck on the wrong side of an impassable bridge in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, it's historic.  Officials up and down the eastern seaboard are still conducting preliminary damage assessments. In the D.C. region, damage was less-than-historic. After a long day of rain and gusty winds, Irene left thousands without power and hundreds of downed trees, but the capital and the surrounding areas were spared both the dangerous storm surges pushed ahead of the hurricane and the stronger winds on the eastern side of Irene. "What happened was that we …

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Patch Blogroll

Surf Report: Must-See Fairfax Websites

Emergency communications, kids and divorce, and a look at an Annandale strip mall.

Looking for something new on the Web? Try these sites picked for Fairfax County, Va.:

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Power Outages Continue in McLean

Some neighbors without power since Sunday

Wednesday Aug. 31: An estimated 40 McLean residents are still without power that they lost when Hurricane Irene twirled through Virginia Saturday and Sunday. Dominion Power said Monday that all power in Northern Virginia would be restored by Tuesday. On Tuesday the company said, "Dominion Virginia Power has completed repairs and restored electric service to all Virginia customers in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area who lost power because of Hurricane Irene. "This area includes the counties of Arlington, Fairfax, and Prince William and the cities of Alexandria, Falls Church and Fairfax. Restoration efforts continue in other areas of Virginia. "Any outages now shown on Dominion’s online electric outage map are not related to Hurricane …

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All Northern Virginia Power Back Tuesday, Location of McLean Work Crews

Dominion Power Announcement

12:30 UPDATE: Dominion Power is promising to have power restored to all of its Northern Virginia customers by tomorrow. "Dominion will restore power to 90-95 percent of the customers affected by Irene-related outages by the end of the day Friday. Seventy-five percent will be restored by the end of the workday on Wednesday.  In Northern Virginia, where Irene had lesser impact, restoration will be completed tomorrow," the company in a press release a few minutes ago. As of 12:30, Dominion Power reported about 15,500 customers with now power. Of those, about 6, 000 were in Fairfax, according to the Dominion website. It appear that perhaps a 1,000 of those customers are in McLean. 11:04am UPDATE: Here are the locations in McLean where Dominon …

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Power Restored in Most of Downtown McLean, Nearly 40T Remain With no Power in FFX

FFX County Summarizes Impact of Hurricane Irene

3:30 pm. The aftermath of Irene.The Starbucks in downtown McLean is still closed because of Hurricane Irene. J. Gilbert's, a popular restaurant on Dolley Madison Boulevard, will open at 5 p.m. It was closed most of the day because of a power outage in parts of downtown McLean caused by Irene. The Ashby, the McLean House, The Post Office and their neighbors all have had their power restored. Thousands of Fairfax and McLean neighbors remain without power. Here is the summary of the toll of Hurricane Irene from Fairfax County government. ·        Current Power outages are listed as 38,958 customers (9%) out in Fairfax County (Dominion Virginia Power, NOVEC).  o   Dominion is targeting re-establishing power to the largest power outage areas …

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Power Restored to Most of McLean, Irene Moving Through FFX

More than 100 customers still powerless

11:30pm. The majority of McLean residents have had their power restored. A little more than 100 neighbors remain without power. The largest concentration continues to be around Georgetown Pike just inside the Beltway. 10:39pm: Latest Fairfax County Govt Update: Hurricane Irene continues to impact Fairfax County at 10pm. Heavy bands of rain and squalls are affecting our area right now. Residents are urged to stay home and off the roads due to heavy rain, high winds and the possibility of downed wires and trees. The National Weather Service predicts an additional 3 inches of rain in the county by 2 a.m. Sunday morning. Based on that information the county anticipates: Significant road flooding may be expected in the Huntington area. The …

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Bobbi Bowman

10:36 pm on Sunday, August 28, 2011

Thank you for your note. Many of our neighbors are without power. We will continue to report on outages until all the neighbors have their power restored. Please keep us updated. Be safe.   more ›