Weather
How did the derecho affect you?
How has your neighborhood fared in the aftermath of the derecho?
Photo by woodleywonderworks on Flickr.
Friday's violent storm left trees down and hundreds of thousands of residents without power across the region, especially in areas without underground power lines. Residents without power swarmed to electrified business districts in search of cooling, unspoiled food and outlets to charge a phone.
On the roads, many drivers disregarded the rules to treat a dark traffic light as a stop sign. One pedestrian was killed at a dark signal, at Columbia Pike and Four Mile Run Drive. Bicycle trails were apparently mostly passable, though there are still many trees forcing riders and runners to climb over or around. Metro is operating, though with some delays.
Outages are everywhere
From a discussion among our contributors, it seems that neighborhoods with underground power lines, like in the L'Enfant city, fared the best; Dan Malouff wrote that in Dupont, there was "Not even so much as a flicker" of a power outage, and I experienced the same.
Ben Ross said, "Pretty much everyone in Bethesda lost power except the small portion of downtown that has underground wires." Not all places with underground wires were spared; Geoff Hatchard said, "Places like Bloomingdale and Eckington, which have underground lines, still lost power (as they seem to do somewhat regularly). We have underground lines in Trinidad but didn't lose power."
David Klion said, "My family in Chevy Chase lost power. I drove along Colesville Road [last night] and everything outside of downtown Silver Spring was dark, including the traffic lights." Neil Flanagan wrote that in Ward 3, houses seem to be out of power more individually based on where trees came down. John Muller says, "No power in most of Anacostia People have been using public facilities to keep cool and also to charge their phones. Julie Lawson stopped by the Wheaton Mall, and said, "The gym was closed but everything else seemed to be open. Crowds of people huddled around every wall outlet charging their phones, etc. Target was also sold out of car chargers." Matt Johnson agreed: "Downtown Silver Spring had power, and I've never seen it so crowded. Each electrical outlet had people clustered about charging cell phones."
Not every business district had power; Ballston and Clarendon did not. Eric Hallstrom wrote, "We were able to eat, but it was cash only because the phone lines power many of the credit card machines. ... We retained our power [in South Arlington] while many other streets in our neighborhood were without. That led to the interesting phenomena of seeing extension cords running across the streets at regular intervals as neighbors shared their power to keep refrigerators on."
What about transportation?
The outage primarily knocked out power to a lot of traffic lights, and brought trees down on a number of trails. Contributor reports say that by and large the bicycle and pedestrian facilities are working well. AWalkerInTheCity wrote, "The cyclists I've seen out and about seem to be enjoying it, and buses seem to be doing fine."
Ben Ross noted, "Yesterday I rode my bike to Alexandria via the Capital Crescent & Mount Vernon trails. The only real problem in MoCo was one section where a couple of trees had fallen on the electric wires, and the trees and 4 or 5 electric poles were hanging over the road at 45% angles. In DC, there were 4 or 5 places where you had to climb over trees and quite a few more where you had to leave the trail to go around them."
"A portion of the Red line was shut down for at least some of the weekend, and some of the stations lost power. Metro has announced that because of the electrical problems, there may be speed restrictions or slower service tomorrow morning," writes Michael Perkins. Ben Ross took the Red Line from Farragut North to Friendship Heights yesterday with no trouble.
Places with a street grid also benefited from having alternate routes around problems. "Although some residential streets were blocked with downed trees or power lines, Arlington's grid or semi-grid pattern of streets meant that there were always other ways to get there," said Michael Perkins.
It's been tougher with the inactive traffic lights. Drivers are supposed to treat them as a 4-way stop, not a yield sign, but not everyone is doing that. Michael Perkins wrote: "There were a lot of traffic signals which were not working, notably on Arlington Boulevard (US 50) from Clarendon to Seven Corners.
"At many of these intersections, Arlington Police Department had blocked the median of the major thoroughfare, blocking left turns across the highway. This helped traffic flow tremendously. Most of the time, drivers treated these uncontrolled intersections as a hybrid of a stop sign and a yield sign, depending on the amount of cross traffic."
Steven Yates said, "I found a number of traffic lights out with lots of people having no idea how to treat them. I even had to cross one on foot once and that felt like taking my life into my own hands. I was surprised that I didn't see any police officers directing traffic at any of the traffic lights." Julie Lawson added, "Some people obeyed the 4-way stop rule but almost nobody else was, which made the risk of being rear-ended very high."
Matt Johnson had a similar report: "The [Greenbelt] police had closed off all median crossings of Route 193 (Greenbelt Road). I've discovered that in Maryland most drivers treat dark intersections with the equivalency of a green light ("it isn't red, so I don't have to stop, right?") I saw 2 teenagers trying to cross Greenbelt Road almost get nailed. No one was yielding, and I suppose they got tired of waiting.
"At [Colesville Road and] Spring Street, the light was out, and it was a complete free-for-all. Cross-traffic, left turns, through movements, everybody was essentially just pulling into the intersection and hoping the other cars would stop. As we approached, several drivers from several directions had effectively blocked each other from moving, but they worked it out."
Eric Hallstrom noted from Ballston and Clarendon, "It felt a little chaotic, but most drivers were being conscientious about lights. Interesting, many people seemed to still be paying for their parking (because the digital meters were still working), even though it is hard to believe that parking enforcement was out checking."
Sadly, at least one interaction at a darkened signal turned into a tragedy. A driver hit and killed a pedestrian at Columbia Pike and Four Mile Run Drive. There's no information yet about whether the driver disregarded the rule to treat the signal like a stop sign, though that's the most likely way someone would have been killed.
On a lighter note, nothing seems to have changed with the insanity of the cable company. Ben Ross says, "Sunday afternoon, a Comcast truck showed up at our building which had been without cable & Internet since Friday night. The technician had come to connect new subscribers What were your experiences with the derecho's wake?
David Alpert is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Greater Greater Washington and Greater Greater Education. He worked as a Product Manager for Google for six years and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He loves the area which is, in many ways, greater than those others, and wants to see it become even greater. 
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by Bossi on Jul 2, 2012 9:14 am • link • report
My question - after all the recent outrage about Dominion harshly trimming so many Northern Virginia trees, why did 450,000 customers still lose power? Did the trimming help or not?
by Miles Grant on Jul 2, 2012 9:18 am • link • report
by Redline SOS on Jul 2, 2012 9:24 am • link • report
by notaflicker on Jul 2, 2012 9:27 am • link • report
Was interesting to wake up on saturday and see everyone on my Facebook feed (I grew up in central Va. and they were hit hard too) talking about it. But neither my parents (in central va.) or my in-laws (in fairfax) lost power. Though a lot of lights were out in fairfax still on sunday.
Which made it interesting driving home at night. If I didn't know the roads so well I would have blasted through a couple of intersections never realizing there is normally a stoplight.
by drumz on Jul 2, 2012 9:37 am • link • report
Actually stopping at a darkened traffic light made you run the risk of being rear-ended, as most drivers were content to choose to think that lack of lighted visual cues was a sign to turn off the brain and push the accelerator closer to the floorboards.
by Geoffrey Hatchard on Jul 2, 2012 9:38 am • link • report
My question - after all the recent outrage about Dominion harshly trimming so many Northern Virginia trees, why did 450,000 customers still lose power? Did the trimming help or not?
The problem isn't so much branches as tons of entire trees breaking/being uprooted and falling on lines. Tree trimming probably did help some but it can't prevent trees from falling over in 70MPH winds.
by MLD on Jul 2, 2012 9:53 am • link • report
As I was walking to the Silver Spring metro this morning, a lady stopped me and remarked that I looked like I had power at my house and asked where I lived. I told her I lived in downtown. Her reponse: "Well, I guess that crazy high rent you're paying is worth it now." All I could think to myself was, damn straight.
Anyway, re: underground power lines - has PEPCO ever studied how much it would cost to put all their power lines underground? I wonder if they broke it down in terms of per customer per month, if it would really be that much, and if customers would be willing to pay for it. I know I probably would be if my power went out for days at a time whenever the wind blew harder than 40 mph.
by Rebecca on Jul 2, 2012 9:56 am • link • report
More on the lack of a Maryland Law regarding how to treat a dark signal can be found here:
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-08-31/news/bs-ed-signals-20110831_1_signal-intersections-traffic-lights
by Murn on Jul 2, 2012 9:58 am • link • report
It was pretty crazy Saturday AM - people were blowing through dark traffic signals on route 7 and surrounding arterials near Tysons.
Our part of the neighborhood got power earlier yesterday afternoon so we came back home. Some parts of Pimmit Hills are still without power though, and same with friends near the Vienna metro.
by Steve on Jul 2, 2012 10:06 am • link • report
Yesterday we drove through parts of DC, PG, and MoCo on our way to the in-laws, and I have to say out of the three areas, Montgomery County drivers were the "best" about stopping at darkened intersections. I use best in quotes because it was pretty bad everywhere. I just saw more people stop in Montgomery County than the other places.
I actually got into an argument with my father-in-law about whether you should stop at a darkened intersection when you're on the "main" street and crossing a "side" street. He argued that when on a main drag, you don't really need to stop unless a car was coming from the side street. I said you should default to a 4-way stop no matter what if the traffic signals are out, thus guaranteeing the highest level of safety while sacrificing a very small amount of time.
There were traffic cops out at many of the major intersections in and around Bethesda/Wheaton. They were doing a commendable job in the brutal heat.
by jaybeas on Jul 2, 2012 10:07 am • link • report
I want to know more about how driver education works in this part of the country (Maryland, Virginia, and DC).
Here's an animated gif demonstrating said driver education.
As for the storm, I've been through lots of hurricanes growing up on the Gulf Coast, but I've never been up on the 12th floor during one... Dragging our patio furniture and plants off of the balcony during 70 mph wind gusts was a new and 'interesting' experience. Otherwise, no loss of power, cable, internet, or anything else. There are perks to living in big apartment buildings, even ones surrounded by lots of trees on 2 of 4 sides.
by Dizzy on Jul 2, 2012 10:08 am • link • report
http://www.mva.maryland.gov/resources/dl-002b.pdf
"When a traffic signal is not working, you should approach the intersection slowly, being prepared to stop or yield to other traffic. Then proceed only when the way is clear."
The reality is people are selfish and don't care; they'd rather get along two seconds faster than do things the safe way. Also, given the way everyone else drives, people are conditioned to forget basically everything they learned in drivers' ed within 5 years.
by MLD on Jul 2, 2012 10:08 am • link • report
Stricly speaking, that means yield to vehicles and pedestrians already in the intersection, and to vehicles on the right.
The challenge is that most drivers revert to what they (or their parents) did at that intersection before the light was installed. Usually in the suburbs, that means that a favored road has right of way--but if two roads of equal volume intersect, it may mean 4-way stop.
Can anyone explain why the lights can't have enough emergency power to become blinkers during a power failure?
by Jim T on Jul 2, 2012 10:12 am • link • report
by aaa on Jul 2, 2012 10:12 am • link • report
by Fitz on Jul 2, 2012 10:17 am • link • report
by worthing on Jul 2, 2012 10:19 am • link • report
On Saturday morning, people on the Fairfax County Parkway (VA-286) were kinda ok treating the out lights as 4-way stops. It's weird on a semi-highway like the Parkway though, because in effect you have to yield to turning vehicles.
On Sunday, more power was working, but there were dangerous situations at the few lights that were not working because people were not anticipating a single light being out anymore. Also, it's hard to notice an out light if everybody blows through. Occasional lights were out at VA-123, VA-286, VA-28 and US-50.
Police did block a lot of left turns.
You gotta wonder whether it is smart policy to have people treat out lights as 4-way stops on semi-highways. It is counter intuitive and quite frankly creates very dangerous situations because so many do not comply, or are impatient.
by Jasper on Jul 2, 2012 10:21 am • link • report
Undergrounding power lines is MUCH more expensive than poles. And by doing so you transfer risk/issues from one set of them to another. The first 10 or so years of undergrounding sees fewer problems and maintenance but after that maintenance and problems go up and over the long run (20, 30, 40 years or more) undergrounded power lines are both more costly to build/install and to maintain.
The risks/issues are transferred from tree branches (and other things) falling on the lines to water infiltration, construction mistakes, tree roots.
by Conduit on Jul 2, 2012 10:26 am • link • report
by Tonei on Jul 2, 2012 10:27 am • link • report
In the event of electric utility power failure the adjacent traction power substations fill in the gap. However do to the resistance in the third rail over distances greater the 3,000' the voltage will drop below the nominal 700 VDC requiring trains to be operated at lower speeds.
The minimum voltage required to safely operate trains is 430 VDC.
by Sand Box John on Jul 2, 2012 10:27 am • link • report
Most of the power in the area seemed to be back up by late Sunday afternoon.
by Another Josh on Jul 2, 2012 10:27 am • link • report
I feel bad for all the downed trees but I did think of The Tree and The Reed all weekend.
Stay safe!
by David F-H on Jul 2, 2012 10:33 am • link • report
I drove a little bit on Sunday, and most people treated the lights as 4 way stops. In fact, where I was driving, traffic flowed better and was more reasonable than when the lights are working.
by Bill Cook on Jul 2, 2012 10:39 am • link • report
Add that to the extra cost of underground power,Pepco gets extra money when there is a power outage to make up for its loss of revenue. There little incentive to go to undergound power, at least for the utility.
by SJE on Jul 2, 2012 10:50 am • link • report
Dominion has the info:
https://www.dom.com/storm-center/overhead-vs-underground-electric-lines.jsp
The short version is $3000 per customer. Now I suppose that cost could be spread out over several years, but it;s considerable.
by Steven Yates on Jul 2, 2012 11:05 am • link • report
I came back last night to find that all power was lost. I managed to buy 80 lbs of ice and jam the freezer and fridge full, and now I just have my fingers crossed. The fridge is probably a lost cause, but I hope my Freezer will be alright.
Everything's out in Penrose and much of Arlington Heights. No street lights, nothing.
by Chris on Jul 2, 2012 11:05 am • link • report
Saturday I was at my parents' house in Silver Spring, which lost power, so I went to the library in Burtonsville, which of course was packed with people plugging in their phones and computers. Same at the place where we ate dinner. My mother and I drove around trying to find batteries, and eventually we found some at the Walmart in Columbia.
I can count on one hand the number of times I've been to Walmart, but I'm glad that their store was so disorganized. All of their "Battery Center" displays were cleaned of 'D' batteries, but we found a box of them lying on the floor by the register, which we promptly bought up. We got power back Sunday morning, thankfully, but most of the stoplights in our area were still out as of last night.
by dan reed! on Jul 2, 2012 11:07 am • link • report
There was still one huge tree down on Foxhall road this morning (circa 6 a.m.), and no detour signs, which had to have been fun for the morning rush hour traffic.
A couple darkened intersections in MoCo had little mobile stop signs up, which helped modulate more of the traffic than the ones without.
by Moose on Jul 2, 2012 11:18 am • link • report
by Rich on Jul 2, 2012 11:55 am • link • report
The short version is $3000 per customer. Now I suppose that cost could be spread out over several years, but it;s considerable.
That cost is ALREADY annualized. So take whatever your monthly electric bill is now and add $250. The average cost was $800K per mile - and that's averaging everywhere, so if you only wanted to do more built-up places it would cost more per mile (because there's more utilities already in the ground you have to deal with).
Though we'd also have to balance that with the costs we incur to have extra utility people come to get things running after a big event. That's covered by separate funds though so it's hard to siphon money around.
Welcome to the future. Expect more extreme weather events due to climate change.
by MLD on Jul 2, 2012 12:01 pm • link • report
The problem is that people see it as a stand-alone extra cost. They forget the cost of spoilt refrigerator content, hotel cost, extra travel to places with power, and generally, a massive effort by local authorities. Now, those may not be direct costs, but you're paying for them. You may think that your refrigerator is not expensive to replace, but your supermarket will charge you for it through higher prices the rest of the year. There is also a massive cost for businesses that can't process credit card transactions.
Anyway, I don't believe weighing that it is that expensive. Especially if power companies do replacement in a smart way, i.e. during normal maintenance and upgrades.
by Jasper on Jul 2, 2012 12:08 pm • link • report
by Gray on Jul 2, 2012 12:27 pm • link • report
by Tim Krepp on Jul 2, 2012 12:34 pm • link • report
by Bill Cook on Jul 2, 2012 12:36 pm • link • report
That still does not compare to the cost of all the outages. They are not free!
by Jasper on Jul 2, 2012 12:36 pm • link • report
Shockingly, a tree crew made it out by 8am Sunday morning. A mere 6 hours later, using a huge crane, chain saws, a chipper truck, and a dump truck, they'd carved up and hauled away enough of the corpse to re-open the road.
Given that the street is only two blocks long, didn't seem like the highest priority -- we figured that Pepco hadn't given clearance for crews to work on most of the other downed trees yet, because of danger from electric wires. Our Pepco service is underground, not a flicker, though internet cable service was out until Sunday. (Fortunately, our internet is wireless, so no issues at all.)
by Shalom on Jul 2, 2012 12:43 pm • link • report
by Steve S. on Jul 2, 2012 1:12 pm • link • report
by selxic on Jul 2, 2012 3:34 pm • link • report
by Jasper on Jul 2, 2012 4:11 pm • link • report
by sg on Jul 2, 2012 4:25 pm • link • report
by selxic on Jul 2, 2012 6:01 pm • link • report
We are hoping to have power restored by the weekend. In the meantime we are camping out in Catoctin, swimming frequently in the lake there, and I am taking the MARC in from Frederick to work. Actually, it's Mrs. Hugo and I that are hoping to have power back - the kids are having the time of their lives.
by hugo on Jul 3, 2012 8:33 am • link • report
That 3,000' figure should be 6,000'.
by Sand Box John on Jul 3, 2012 10:55 pm • link • report
by stevek_fairfax on Jul 6, 2012 4:51 pm • link • report
by stevek_fairfax on Jul 6, 2012 4:52 pm • link • report
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