Catch any of that storm last night?

[DCnDC]

This one that went through from Chicago to the Mid-Atlantic?

My GF has been in Scotland the last 2 weeks and of course yesterday is when she was flying back. The last leg of her trip was a quick jump from New York to DC, and of course it's scheduled to leave JFK at 10 and come into National at 11, which is exactly when the storm was going to hit the area and I had to go pick her up.

I had been tracking her flights online all day, and while the reports were saying that National was delaying all incoming flights, after a 40 minute delay, the flight tracker showed her plane was in the air, so I get in the car and start toward the airport. The storm has not yet hit the area when I start out, but I'm in Takoma Park, MD and National is exactly on the opposite side of the city, so there's really no good way to get there except to drive all the way through DC.

As soon as I get onto Georgia Ave, the wind starts blowing crazy hard, there's small branches and other detritus flying around, and soon after the rain starts coming-- I can't exactly describe it as coming down so much as it was literally raining almost completely sideways, like 80-85 degrees sideways. A lot of the other drivers are pulling over to wait it out, but I'm like fuck it I'm going to get there and I just keep straight on going.

After about 35 minutes of working my way through the wind and rain, through massive puddles of standing water, and deftly dodging large branches and entire trees across the roads, I make it to airport. I park the car and head inside, to promptly find out-- her flight was redirected to Philadelphia and they'll put her on another flight in-- of course they don't know when. So I hit the only store that's still open (Dunkin' Donuts) and I wait... for three hours.

At just after 3AM she comes off a plane, tired and grouchy, and we have to drive home through the aftermath of the storm. What would normally take about 20 minutes at that time of night takes over an hour because once we got within about a mile of the house, all of the roads were closed because of flooded roads, and downed trees and power lines. Eventually I make a wide enough circle around all of the heavily wooded areas that we're able to get home to a dark, hot house, and I've got to get up and go in to work in 3 hours...

...which brings us to right now, where I'm sitting comfortably in my nice air-conditioned office with full power and internet. Actually kind of happy to be here rather than at home right now.

Anyway, if you caught any of it, how did you fare in the storm?

[kayaker]

We were at an outdoor concert. . The band (Brother Joscephus and the Love Revival Revolution) had just come out for their second set when all hell broke loose. We packed up our stuff and walked a couple blocks to the car in pouring rain.

The temp dropped from 95 degrees down to 70 very fast.

The band was awesome, a Mardi Gras group.

[Dendarii Dame]

I'm in Maryland. There were lots of branches (some pretty large) down, and a trash can had been blown down the hill, but that's about it. A whole lotta noise while it was going on last night, though, and I've heard it's supposed to storm again later today.

[Neidhart]

When the storm hit, I was in bed with all the windows tightly closed. The wind and rain woke me up, but I went back to sleep pretty soon.

This morning I found my dsl Internet is out and my iPhone couldn't find a signal. I wonder if the winds knocked down a cell tower.

On the way up to Tyson's Corner on the bus I saw lots of debris and some huge branches down, and all the gas stations had huge lines of cars. It wasn't till I got to the mall that I found out that half of northern VA has no power!

[Wendell Wagner]

I had stopped in College Park, Maryland on the way home from work. I could have gone straight home and thus would have avoided the storm, but, no, I decided to pick up a copy of The Washington City Paper, which I always pick up because it has things like The Straight Dope in it. Just as I start to drive off from there, the storm hits. My car is slammed with winds and tree branches. I get to see an electric line being ripped down, which produces tremendous sparks. I found myself a place in a parking lot to sit in my car and waited out the storm.

[andrewm]

Watched lounge chairs get blown into the pool from our balcony.

[freckafree]

We live in the weirdest little weather microcosm here in Ohio. I really would like a meteorologist tell me why this happens. Countless times I have watched the radar of a storm (thunderstorm or snow storm) approaching us as a solid mass only to have it split in two when it gets about 30 miles away, with a chunk going north and a chunk going south, and we get nuthin'. Such is was last night. We hardly even got rain.

My sister in WV is without power and water. I really feel for anyone who has to deal with this horrendous heat with no AC.

[DCnDC]

Looks like we may be in for round 2 tonight. Probably won't be as bad. Hopefully.

[Skara_Brae]

I am in northern VA. We lost power last night around 10pm and have yet to get it back. They say it may be a multi day outage. With temps in the 100s, its going to be one uncomfortable weekend.

[2gigch1]

I live in Annapolis and work at WUSA TV9. I had just finished a long day at the golf tournament and was chillin at he when it hit. Listening to the scanner I decided it needed my response. I jumped in my live truck and started covering damage in Annapolis, and provided a live phone report around 11:40.

Right now I am parked at 7th & A SE in DC. We will do a live special starting at 2:30p. We are where a large tree crushed a couple cars. Then another report at 6p.

There will be people without power for a week.

[2gigch1]

Shameless promotion: if anyone has pictures videos or stories to share we love that stuff at www.wusa9.com

[FairyChatMom]

I'm in St. Mary's county, MD. Some time after I went to bed (shortly after 10) I heard really hard rain falling, but I just rolled over and went back to sleep. My husband said he woke up and thought he heard thunder. This morning, we saw a big ol' tree across our neighbor's covered race-car-haulin' trailer - that might have been the "thunder" - and that neighbor works for the electric co-op, so he had to go to work instead of dealing with the tree. Poor guy.

We lost power about 11 today for maybe 2.5 hours - I assume it was storm-related, but maybe not. Anyway, we're up and running now, so I'm good.

[freckafree]

You gotta love Wikipedia. There's already a page on this storm event, and I learned a new word: derecho.

[Drain Bead]

I live in the northern suburbs of Columbus, Ohio. I noticed it was getting dark at about 4:45, and I had to get something for dinner at a little store less than a mile from my house. When I left, the sky was dark and the winds were calm. I made it three blocks before all hell broke loose. It was barely raining, but the winds were so bad that branches and lawn furniture were blowing across my path. I decided to turn around and go home.

By the time I made it home, three of my next-door neighbor's trees were down--one completely uprooted. Branches were everywhere, including a 10-foot one directly in front of our front door. The power was out, so I couldn't get the garage door open, and my only house key is in a construction lockbox on my front door. I knew the code, but given the flying branches, I figured it was safer to just stay in my car. So I rode the storm out in my driveway, hoping all the trees in our wooded lot would remain upright. Thankfully, they did.

82-mph gusts were recorded during this storm. The estimate is 5-7 days without power. Thankfully, my in-laws never lost power, so we're at their house for the foreseeable future.

[Lamar Mundane]

It's really interesting watching the golf tournament from Congressional CC today. There are trees down all over the place and they told the fans not to come. Tiger Woods just chipped in for a birdie from well off the green, and it was greeted with thundering...silence.

[monstro]

Power went out around 11:00-ish last night. When the lights went out (along with the precious AC), I told myself not to panic. After all, it was 110 degrees. It would be horrible to have to sleep through kind of heat. So the power just HAD to come back on if there was any fairness left in the world!

It returned around 7:00 this morning. Somehow I made it through the dark, hot-ass night.

[Lukeinva]

Originally Posted by Skara_Brae

I am in northern VA. We lost power last night around 10pm and have yet to get it back. They say it may be a multi day outage. With temps in the 100s, its going to be one uncomfortable weekend.

Also in Northern Va and fortunate to not lose power, or internet. Although it did flicker a couple of times. This morning the neighborhood was strewn with downed trees and branches and debris. All over the place. Many friends are not so lucky.

PS- Tip to drivers: When the signal is out: STOP! Don't go barreling through (as I saw several cars do at several intersections). When the signal at an intersection goes out it defaults to a 4-way stop. One at a time. Be safe.

[Edward The Head]

I lost power last night around 10:30. The temps went up really quick in my house for some reason and I tossed and turned until the power came back around 1:30. Then the girls got me up at 6.

There wasn't a whole lot of down branches or anything around here though. We went to see a movie this morning and it was packed as a lot of people didn't have power. Our pool is still closed though.

I think I might drop the temps tonight so that if the power does go out it will stay cool a bit longer.

[FoieGrasIsEvil]

Originally Posted by freckafree

We live in the weirdest little weather microcosm here in Ohio. I really would like a meteorologist tell me why this happens. Countless times I have watched the radar of a storm (thunderstorm or snow storm) approaching us as a solid mass only to have it split in two when it gets about 30 miles away, with a chunk going north and a chunk going south, and we get nuthin'. Such is was last night. We hardly even got rain.

I live very near Cincinnati in SE Indiana and I have noticed this phenomenon quite often. Since I am in the car wash business, and we are utterly beholden to the weather, I watch a lot of weather radar. I'm not sure where you are in Ohio, but from what I have seen I suspect its the topography of the Ohio River Valley that breaks up the weather, especially with snow in the winter. I can't tell you how many times in the winter I have seen a snow system rolling across Indianapolis 90 miles to my west, headed my way, only to have it either totally peter out before it gets here or do as you say, break apart and travel north and south of us in two "broken" pieces.

Originally Posted by Drain Bead

The power was out, so I couldn't get the garage door open, and my only house key is in a construction lockbox on my front door. I knew the code, but given the flying branches, I figured it was safer to just stay in my car. So I rode the storm out in my driveway, hoping all the trees in our wooded lot would remain upright. Thankfully, they did.

82-mph gusts were recorded during this storm. The estimate is 5-7 days without power. Thankfully, my in-laws never lost power, so we're at their house for the foreseeable future.

Couldn't you have opened your garage door from the inside by pulling down on that disengagement thing that has that rope attached to it so you can open the door manually? I had to do that yesterday too as my power was out as well. And I must ask: why do you keep your only housekey in a lock box? I can see keeping a spare in there just in case, but why not have a copy on your key ring?

Anyway, here's my tale of woe:

I just got back from a 10 day trip to Daytona Beach last Sunday. The day before leaving, I got into an embarrassing accident in my Mustang GT (Eleanor) with my neighbor across the street whereby we backed into each other without seeing one another. For a 5mph crash, the damage was pretty significant ($1500 worth).

I didn't want to leave my baby to sit outside on the body shop's lot for multiple days, so I opted to get it repaired when I returned from Florida. So I dropped the car off this past Monday, and they called me yesterday to let me know it was finished.

As I was driving the rental car to the body shop at about 4:45pm yesterday, I started noticing dark clouds ahoy. "Hmm", I thought, "I did not know it was supposed to rain today." It was 101 degrees outside at this point.

So I see thunderstorms are coming, which sucks because when the body shop called me they were like "we are spending about an hour detailing your car for you so it will be perfect". Sweet...its gonna get ruined by rain (I don't like to drive this particular car in the rain...for one it sucks ass traction wise on wet roads, and for two...I like to keep Eleanor really clean and rain on it means an hour of wiping down the thing for me).

As I am waiting for them to finish, suddenly these insane winds just start blowing out of literally nowhere. And they are strong. My car is ready so I drive the rental over to the side of the building where the garage door is to shield myself from the flying gravel bits and dust from the business next door...and I needed to unload some stuff from one car to the other.

My Mustang looks like shit already. Its covered in gravel dust. No big deal, I think. Can't control the weather. So I get in the thing and start driving home on I-74. Near where I need to exit to get on 275 to head to Indiana, there's a short bridge. A semi truck is in front of me. As it starts to cross the bridge, a HUGE gust of wind blasts through the opening where just before there had been lots of trees. I watch in horror as I see the right side of the trailer on the 18 wheeler rise up off the ground a good couple feet! I was thinking "Holy shit! This thing is going to roll over!".

So I slow way down and right as I do, the truck manages to complete the bridge crossing and the trailer comes crashing back to Earth. Disaster avoided. I have never seen anything like that before.

I am listening to the radio as I get near my house and I hear that there's a threat of large hail. Shit! My car just got painted! I gotta get this thing in the garage, stat! To this point it hadn't really been raining much, but the winds were ridiculous. It reminded me of the wind storm from that hurricane that we had here in September of 2007. There were branches, leaves and all kinds of debris just all over the roads.

Just before the entrance to my subdivision, I am stopped at a light and a transformer blows...spectacularly. Right next to me. I have never seen that happen before either...it was like a Star Wars explosion...lots of white-hot balls of sparks showering the ground....I romped on it and got the hell away from there.

I get home, and now its POURING rain, and the wind hasn't let up. And I have no power. I race inside to get the garage open so Eleanor doesn't pull a Christine on me in my sleep, and so she's safe.

Turns out that parts of my neighborhood have power (we have underground power lines), including our neighborhood's local sports bar...so I get in my beater Hyundai and head over there for fish tacos, gin and a/c.

This was all from about 5-6 pm. At 6:30, the Sun was out again and the humidity returned. It went from 101 degrees to 71 in literally ten minutes. It was surreal, and bizarre.

My power still wasn't on when I got home after 11pm, tired, a little buzzed and ready for bed. So I set my cellphone alarm as my regular one isn't working. I needed to get up at 6am to go to work today. I woke up at 7:30 with a cat making muffins on my head....so I was late.

And that's my story.

[The wind of my soul]

We might see part 2 tonight: details here.

[freckafree]

Originally Posted by FoieGrasIsEvil

I'm not sure where you are in Ohio, but from what I have seen I suspect its the topography of the Ohio River Valley that breaks up the weather, especially with snow in the winter.

I'm in Wooster. We are in the Ohio River watershed, but I think it's a stretch to consider us to be in the Ohio River Valley. I'm glad to know it happens somewhere else, though.

[Nightsong]

NoVa here - just got power back on (about 6:50 PMish, EDT) after having it off since about 11:00 PM last night. Considering Dominion was originally saying 2-3 days, I'll take it! I'd rather have to figure out what to do with the three bags of ice I bought than figure out where the hell I'm going to find more.
___
<< Life is full of challenge and frustration, but sooner or later you'll find a hairstyle you like. >>

[QuarkChild]

Originally Posted by freckafree

I'm in Wooster. We are in the Ohio River watershed, but I think it's a stretch to consider us to be in the Ohio River Valley. I'm glad to know it happens somewhere else, though.

Holy crap, I used to live in Wooster! Didn't think there were other Dopers there...

[rocking chair]

it hit philly at 2am ish. lots of wild lightening, i considered joining the cat under the bed. the electricity stayed on thankfully.

it has been clouding over and clearing up all day. i'm hoping to get the abode under 75f tonight. so far it is hovering around 80-79 with the ac on.

[Andy L]

Originally Posted by Wendell Wagner

I had stopped in College Park, Maryland on the way home from work. I could have gone straight home and thus would have avoided the storm, but, no, I decided to pick up a copy of The Washington City Paper, which I always pick up because it has things like The Straight Dope in it. Just as I start to drive off from there, the storm hits. My car is slammed with winds and tree branches. I get to see an electric line being ripped down, which produces tremendous sparks. I found myself a place in a parking lot to sit in my car and waited out the storm.

Wendell - glad to hear that you got through the storm okay. It made a lot of noise around us at about 10:30 last night (Columbia, Maryland), but didn't knock out our power. However, when I was out today on the roads there were a lot of roads blocked by trees and branches, and a lot of traffic lights not working.

[DCnDC]

Originally Posted by Lukeinva

PS- Tip to drivers: When the signal is out: STOP! Don't go barreling through (as I saw several cars do at several intersections). When the signal at an intersection goes out it defaults to a 4-way stop. One at a time. Be safe.

Yeah, it was a total clusterfuck out there today. The police were out at the major intersections, but there were still plenty of lights out at other pretty big intersections with no police direction.

Treating them as 4-way stops is fine when you're only dealing with 1 lane, but when you have 2 or more lanes in the same direction, there are 16 total lanes and you have cars showing up at different times, so it quickly devolves into chaos, especially when there are also left-turn lanes involved. I was trying to take routes that always either stayed straight through big intersections and/or tried to only make right turns. I was very happy to get off the road.

[computergeek]

I live in Maryland and it appears at least parts of the state got hit pretty hard. I was indoors when the storm hit in my area and I just watched it pour for a little while. I didn't lose power, but some of the local businesses did (I'm not sure about any residential areas). I went out for some ice cream and groceries today and didn't realize that there was a power situation and missed out on Baskin and Robbins ice cream at the B&R store and some chicken salad at the local grocery store because they lost power and their generator (definitely the latter store and possibly the former) thus losing their frozen and refrigerated food. Plus, some of the traffic lights were out.

[chizzuk]

We got lucky and didn't lose power in downtown Silver Spring: it seems like every other neighborhood is out. The same thing happened during Irene. I actually feel like the wind during this storm was about as bad as that was, though obviously for a much shorter duration. The very first gust before the rain started was absolutely insane. And I've never seen so much lightning.

[Tom Tildrum]

In Falls Church, the storm was 30 minutes of continuous lightning. Half a tree down in the back yard, but minimal damage. No power anywhere from here to Annandale. Found only one working gas station. Sleeping in the basement tonight.

We went to Tysons mall this afternoon for the A/C, and it was crazy busy. The only way we could park was to pick up a hobbling old man who was leaving and drive him to his car. Technically, it was a good deed, but it felt like a kidnapping: "give us your spot and we'll let you go." Inside, there were people scattered all over the floor, charging their cell phones from the outlets the cleaning people use. We left as the bathrooms were starting to fail; insufficient power to the pumps.

[Rachellelogram]

My power went out temporarily, but they got it back on within the hour (thank god, because now that I have a/c I can't sleep when it's higher than 75 in my room). The storm really wasn't bad around here at all, my guess is that a line further up the pipeline went down.

[Drain Bead]

My key is in the lockbox because we're in the tail end of a remodel and the workers use it for access. In six months this is the first time I needed it--I never go in through the front door. We got the garage open from the inside when the storm calmed enough for me to feel safe leaving my car.

[Miabella]

Still no power here in Burke VA. We were teased by the power coming on for one minute last night, but whatever they tried didn't seem to take.

[2gigch1]

Originally Posted by Drain Bead

My key is in the lockbox because we're in the tail end of a remodel and the workers use it for access. In six months this is the first time I needed it--I never go in through the front door. We got the garage open from the inside when the storm calmed enough for me to feel safe leaving my car.

I hear they have the technology to make more than one key. (Not written with snark in mind, just humor. Hope it comes across that way)

[madmonk28]

I live a couple of blocks from the OP and most of my neighbors are without power, it could be for days. We left on vacation Saturday morning, so we are letting our neighbors live in our house for the week.

[FoieGrasIsEvil]

Originally Posted by Miabella

Still no power here in Burke VA. We were teased by the power coming on for one minute last night, but whatever they tried didn't seem to take.

Hey! I lived there three times...from 1974-1976 on Liberty Bell Court in a (what is now old) townhouse, from 1983-1986 in The Woods in Burke Centre (a duplex) and then again from 1988-1989 on Carter's Oak Way in The Oaks in Burke Center.

Went to West Springfield high school for my freshman year, moved away to Texas, and then went to Robinson High School for my senior year in 1987...was the largest graduating class in VA history at the time...it was something like 1,300 seniors. Tough year to be the new guy all over again.

Wow...good times! Fairfax County in the heezy! Oh, and I worked at Pino's Italian Restaurant as my first job, too. If you've ever been there, or if you go, say hi to Sam and Ray for me.

[Ravenman]

Pepco has my estimated time for restoring power as 11pm on July 6th. Only an estimate, I know.

But I got a hotel room for tonight.

[Andy L]

Originally Posted by DCnDC

Yeah, it was a total clusterfuck out there today. The police were out at the major intersections, but there were still plenty of lights out at other pretty big intersections with no police direction.

Treating them as 4-way stops is fine when you're only dealing with 1 lane, but when you have 2 or more lanes in the same direction, there are 16 total lanes and you have cars showing up at different times, so it quickly devolves into chaos, especially when there are also left-turn lanes involved. I was trying to take routes that always either stayed straight through big intersections and/or tried to only make right turns. I was very happy to get off the road.

A lot of Rt. 29 had the cross-highway parts of the intersections blocked off with evidence tape, so crossing (and left hand turns) weren't possible. In other spots, I saw that multi-lane effect you mention - a big mess.

[Crafter_Man]

Without power from noon Friday until noon Sunday (today). Tree fell over our driveway, so I spent all of yesterday clearing it w/ chainsaw. We are on a well, so no power = no water. Neighbor down the street has a natural spring, so we went down there and filled 5 gallon buckets for toilets.

[gardentraveler]

There are a whole lot of people in Ohio still without power. AEP, who provides power for a whole lot of us, has a photo set on flickr with estimated power restoration times. (The link is to a tweet that links to the AEP photo set). Looks like a whole lot of places are looking at several days, still. There are a few who might have to wait till NEXT Sunday.

I'm really grateful the most I had to deal with was about 1/2 a day without internet.

I was at the office when the storm came through. I've worked in the same building for over 20 years; this is the first time I've felt my chair shake because of a storm. Not pleasant at all.

[DCnDC]

Originally Posted by Ravenman

Pepco has my estimated time for restoring power as 11pm on July 6th. Only an estimate, I know.

But I got a hotel room for tonight.

That's what it's showing for everywhere. I can't imagine it will really take that long for most addresses. I saw a bunch of utility trucks a short ways from my house. One was a Pepco truck, the others appeared to be from an outside company.

[psychobunny]

I was at the office when the storm came through so i elected to wait it out there. The power flickered a few times and the computers had to be rebooted but everything is fine at work. As for home-power has been out since Friday night (neighbors say about 11 PM), landline phones are out completely, water pressure is low (reportedly Falls Church city water lost power and is on generator). I finally gave in this afternoon when my cellphone battery died and the inside temp got up above 85 and came into work. There's a breeze outside but it's still 100 F out. The poor kitties are miserable. I keep telling them to go lie downstairs where it's cooler but they have been staying near me, giving me these pitiful looks like it's my fault they're so hot. Natasha is shedding like crazy. I grabbed some frozen dinners from the freezer to bring to work so I will not lose absolutely everything in my refrigerator/freezer. It's tempting to just stay here at work. I could sleep on an exam table....

[Tom Tildrum]

I tried calling Dominion Power, and their message said, "Your estimated repair time is f**k you."

[Ravenman]

Originally Posted by Tom Tildrum

I tried calling Dominion Power, and their message said, "Your estimated repair time is f**k you."

Weird - they must be forwarding all their calls to Con Edison's customer service center in the Bronx.

[Drain Bead]

Our estimated repair time is midnight on July 7th. I'm hoping this is some sort of underpromise and overdeliver thing.

[booklover]

We are in Takoma Park (very close to downtown Silver Spring) and got in the bathtub when it hit since we don't have a basement. Did anyone around here see hail? It sounded like that was hitting our roof and we got a couple dents in the car.

Our power went out about 11 p.m. Friday and got restored shortly before 8 p.m Saturday, so we got very lucky. Every place selling coffee/food on Saturday morning in downtown SS was packed!

I think about half of Montgomery County is still without power...love Gov. O'Malley's comment about sticking his boot up Pepco's backside! http://www.nbcwashington.com/video/#...side/161007565

[ataraxy22]

I'm in northernmost Montgomery County, MD... My house lost power from about 11pm Friday to 3am Saturday, but has flickered on and off a few times since. It nearly fried my computer. Driving around the county this afternoon, the majority of traffic lights were still out. It was kind of chaotic at busy intersections--lots of blaring horns and near collisions. Ironically, the only collision I saw the aftermath of was at a working stoplight. I also saw many, many, many trees down, including some blocking relatively major roads. I have family in Roanoke and Lynchburg, VA who will probably be without power for several days.

Somehow I had never heard of a derecho before!

[MEBuckner]

Originally Posted by Ravenman

Pepco has my estimated time for restoring power as 11pm on July 6th. Only an estimate, I know.

Somehow the wording of that is very funny to me.

"We estimate power will be restored in your area at 11 p.m...."
"All right!"
"...On July 6."
"Crap!"


Hot as hell down here in Atlanta, but I am very happy that at least we have power and my air conditioner works. I'd send coolness y'all's way if I knew how.

[psychobunny]

Meanwhile, of course Friday was trash day. I believe I have located both of my recycling bins but the garbage can and lid are still MIA. Considering a planter was lifted over a 2 foot railing and deposited on my driveway, the garbage can could be anywhere. If anybody sees it-it's big, green, and plastic and I would like it back.

[GIGObuster]

Originally Posted by ataraxy22

Somehow I had never heard of a derecho before!

Accuweather is calling it a Super Derecho.

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weathe...trikes-m/67383

[freckafree]

Originally Posted by QuarkChild

Holy crap, I used to live in Wooster! Didn't think there were other Dopers there...

One never knows, does one? However, I've only been a Doper since 2006, so perhaps there weren't any Dopers when you lived here.