Residents’ patience is quickly running out as thousands remain without power – and air conditioning – after Wednesday’s severe storms.
As of late Friday afternoon, 13,000 residents in Northern Virginia still were without power, according to Dominion Power. In the District of Columbia and Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, 8,000 residents had no power.
Liliane Bohmer of Kensington required an ambulance to help move her 96-year-old husband, Alois, to her daughter Iana’s house. With no air conditioning, her house had become unlivable, she said.
“My husband and I both feel sick because of the heat,” she said. “We’ve called [Pepco] 100 times – to no avail.”
Temperatures reached the mid-80s Friday in stifling humidity, with an excessive heat watch for the weekend issued by the National Weather Service.
Pepco spokesman Robert Dobkin estimated that about 95 percent of the company’s customers would have their power restored by Friday night.
“We’ll continue to work on 12-hour shifts around the clock until everyone’s back,” he said.
But Ms. Bohmer was not pleased with Pepco’s response.
“I think it’s disgusting,” she said. “It’s life-threatening. I had to throw all the food out of my refrigerator.”
Sligo Middle School in Montgomery County, Mt. Daniel Elementary School in Falls Church and seven Fairfax County schools were still closed Friday because of the lack of power.
The weather service confirmed that tornadoes touched down in Virginia and Maryland on Wednesday. A tornado with the weakest rating touched down in Maryland’s Calvert County, near Chesapeake Beach, and a slightly stronger tornado occurred in Virginia’s Clarke County near Millwood.
Local jurisdictions were trying to provide relief to their residents on Friday. Prince George’s County opened six cooling centers at local fire stations.
Fairfax County plans to open two cooling centers Saturday, and Montgomery and Prince William counties have released tips on how to deal with the heat.
The centers, though, may not help people like Jill Kramer of Kensington, whose garage was flooded with rain Wednesday.
“The plumber has been here three times,” she said. “We can’t leave the house for fear of flooding into the garage and the basement.”
