The Washington region braced for a sweltering workweek and challenging commutes on Monday, with hundreds of traffic lights still dark, temperatures expected to climb into the 90s and nearly a half-million area households still without power.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been without air conditioning since Friday night, and utility companies are warning the outages could last until the end of the week. Power companies are calling in reinforcements from as far away as Missouri, Oklahoma and Canada, and the National Guard is pitching in to help with storm cleanup.
Graphic
Power outages in the area as of 10:30 p.m., Sunday.
More coverage
Patricia Sullivan, Mike DeBonis and Donna St. George
608K homes and businesses in the region are in the dark, including the majority of Pepco customers in Montgomery County.
Bonnie S. Benwick
Here are tips for preserving what you can from a power outage that lasts a few days.
Jason Samenow
WEATHER GANG | That violent, fast-moving storm was a derecho. Here’s why it was so destructive.
Washington Post Staff
A listing of open cooling centers: If you know of others in the area, e-mail us at [email protected].
Going Out Guide
We’re rounding up a list of venues and events, like the Folklife Festival, affected by the storm.
The District and Montgomery and Prince George’s County were among the jurisdictions that canceled public school summer classes and programs for Monday, citing power outages. Montgomery County said its school buildings will be closed Tuesday as well.
The federal government said its offices in the area would be open, but employees have the option to take unscheduled leave or do unscheduled telework.
By 5:15 a.m., about 492,000 Washington area households and businesses — nearly one in four of the region’s electric customers — were still without power, according to data on utility Web sites.
Hundreds of intersections were without working traffic signals--including 288 in Montgomery County alone, as of 3:16 a.m.--and some roads were still blocked by fallen trees or branches. The dark intersections in Montgomery County included major thoroughfares such as Democracy Boulevard and Old Georgetown Road in Bethesda, Randolph Road and Viers Mill Road in Rockville and Colesville Road and University Drive in Silver Spring.
Twenty members of the National Guard were sworn in on Sunday to patrol intersections with broken traffic signals, and public safety officials pleaded with commuters to use caution at intersections and wait their turn to drive through.
The number of homes and business without power was down significantly from the immediate aftermath of the vast crescent of storms that swept across the Appalachians into the region on Friday night, killing at least five people. But the area remained partially crippled.
And Sunday, as people perspired, dogs panted and officials said it might be a week before all power is restored, politicians vowed to try to speed things along.
Many people used generators to produce electricity. Five people in the District were taken to hospitals Sunday with carbon-monoxide poisoning, and officials said generators should never be operated indoors.
Sunday was the area’s fourth day of 90-degree-plus readings, with more such weather in sight and a continuing chance for more storms. Just before 4 p.m., the temperature at Dulles International Airport reached a record for the day of 96 degrees, breaking the record of 94 set in 1968.
The National Weather Service predicted slightly cooler readings--in the low 90s --for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. But it warned of extremely hot and threatening weather again by Thursday, with heat indexes of 105 and readings in the upper 90s through the weekend.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been without air conditioning since Friday night, and utility companies are warning the outages could last until the end of the week. Power companies are calling in reinforcements from as far away as Missouri, Oklahoma and Canada, and the National Guard is pitching in to help with storm cleanup.
Graphic
Power outages in the area as of 10:30 p.m., Sunday.
More coverage
Patricia Sullivan, Mike DeBonis and Donna St. George 608K homes and businesses in the region are in the dark, including the majority of Pepco customers in Montgomery County.
Bonnie S. Benwick Here are tips for preserving what you can from a power outage that lasts a few days.
Jason Samenow WEATHER GANG | That violent, fast-moving storm was a derecho. Here’s why it was so destructive.
Washington Post Staff A listing of open cooling centers: If you know of others in the area, e-mail us at [email protected].
Going Out Guide We’re rounding up a list of venues and events, like the Folklife Festival, affected by the storm.
The District and Montgomery and Prince George’s County were among the jurisdictions that canceled public school summer classes and programs for Monday, citing power outages. Montgomery County said its school buildings will be closed Tuesday as well.
The federal government said its offices in the area would be open, but employees have the option to take unscheduled leave or do unscheduled telework.
By 5:15 a.m., about 492,000 Washington area households and businesses — nearly one in four of the region’s electric customers — were still without power, according to data on utility Web sites.
Hundreds of intersections were without working traffic signals--including 288 in Montgomery County alone, as of 3:16 a.m.--and some roads were still blocked by fallen trees or branches. The dark intersections in Montgomery County included major thoroughfares such as Democracy Boulevard and Old Georgetown Road in Bethesda, Randolph Road and Viers Mill Road in Rockville and Colesville Road and University Drive in Silver Spring.
Twenty members of the National Guard were sworn in on Sunday to patrol intersections with broken traffic signals, and public safety officials pleaded with commuters to use caution at intersections and wait their turn to drive through.
The number of homes and business without power was down significantly from the immediate aftermath of the vast crescent of storms that swept across the Appalachians into the region on Friday night, killing at least five people. But the area remained partially crippled.
And Sunday, as people perspired, dogs panted and officials said it might be a week before all power is restored, politicians vowed to try to speed things along.
Many people used generators to produce electricity. Five people in the District were taken to hospitals Sunday with carbon-monoxide poisoning, and officials said generators should never be operated indoors.
Sunday was the area’s fourth day of 90-degree-plus readings, with more such weather in sight and a continuing chance for more storms. Just before 4 p.m., the temperature at Dulles International Airport reached a record for the day of 96 degrees, breaking the record of 94 set in 1968.
The National Weather Service predicted slightly cooler readings--in the low 90s --for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. But it warned of extremely hot and threatening weather again by Thursday, with heat indexes of 105 and readings in the upper 90s through the weekend.