Two Killed Friday in 'Derecho' Storm in Northern Virginia

UPDATE 2:40 p.m. June 30: While Dominion continues to restore power to about 407,000 homes in Northern Virginia who were without, it appears much of Ashburn is open for business. Know otherwise? Let us know: dusty@patch.com. Novec was working to restore about 3,400 homes as of 2:13 p.m.

UPDATE 12:15 p.m. June 30: Many businesses are impacted by the outages. Costco in Sterling is without power and many traffic lights across the county are not functioning. Use caution.

UPDATE 11:54 a.m. June 30: NOVEC reports about 4,500 customers in Loudoun remain without power. About 427,000 of Dominion's Northern Virginia customers remain without power, according to its website.

Initial story:

Northern Virginia woke up to power outages and scattered tree limbs and debris in roads after a powerful storm hit the area Friday night, killing two people in its wake after a day of record heat.

In addition, power outages continue to plague much of the region.

Khiet Nguyen, 27, of Burke died at about 11 p.m. after a tree hit his 1998 Mercury while he was driving west on Old Keene Mill Drive near Bauer Drive, according to Fairfax County Police. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

A 90-year-old woman died in Springfield when a tree fell on her home as she was lying in bed, according to FCPD. Another occupant of the home called 911 but was unable to reach the victim.

Police, fire and rescue units responded to the home in the 8100 block of Carr Street Friday just before 11 p.m. A construction crane and specialized tree removal equipment have been brought to the scene and the operation is ongoing.

The victim’s name will be released when next of kin has been notified.

The high temperature today will reach 99 with a heat index of 105 — a potentially dangerous situation for the thousands who are without power (and therefore air conditioning) today. There is a chance for thunderstorms this afternoon, but they are not expected to be nearly as severe as they were last night. Temperatures will cool into the upper 70s tonight. 

According to some local meterologists, Friday night's storm may have been a "derecho."

A derecho is "widespread, long-lived wind storm that is associated with a band of rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms. Although a derecho can produce destruction similar to that of tornadoes, the damage typically is directed in one direction along a relatively straight swath. As a result, the term 'straight-line wind damage" sometimes is used to describe derecho damage,'" according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

As of 8:40 a.m. Saturday, the number out of power in the Northern Virginia area was about 454,000 according to Dominion Virginia Power's online power outage information. That's more than half of Dominion's Northern Virginia customers.

"It's way too soon to say when power will be restored," said Le-Ha Anderson, a Dominion spokeswoman, adding she expects it to be "multiple days" before power is fully restored to all homes. "Today we're focusing on assessing the damage."

While some service has been restored, as of of 1:30 a.m. Saturday, outage figures from Domion Power were as follows:

Statewide: 540,285

Northern Virginia: 462,940

• Alexandria: 26,800
• Arlington: 58,000
• Fairfax County: 242,750
• City of Fairfax: 9,000
• Falls Church: About 4,700
• Prince William County: 22,000
• Loudoun County: 36,117

If your power is out, report it to Dominion Virginia Power by calling 866-DOM-HELP (866-366-4357), or by visiting the Dominion Storm Center, even if you think your neighbor has already reported it.

In addition, NOVEC reported nearly 6,000 homes without power as of about 9:30 Saturday morning.

Verizon service has also been impacted.

"The severe storms that hit the Washington metropolitan area Friday night – and the resulting power outages that have affected much of the region – have also affected services for some Verizon customers," said Harry J. Mitchell with Verizon Communications. "Our operations teams currently are assessing the impact and are working to restore service as quickly as possible."

Heat Tips

• If you don’t have air conditioning, go somewhere that has it. If you have to, try to stay on the lowest floor of a building and stay out of the sun.
• Drink plenty of water to stay hydrated—a key component to keeping yourself cool.
• Dress in light colored, lightweight clothes.
• Try to spend the hottest part of the day in an air-conditioned location, such as your local library, movie theater or mall.
• Check on your elderly neighbors, who are more susceptible to heat-related health problems.
• Even with shade and water, it’s just too hot for your animals to be outside.
• Double Dog Dare blogger Ariel Leath has .

Were you surprised by the severity of this storm? What were you doing when the derecho hit the area? Tell us in the Comments.

Patch Editor Jason Spencer contributed to this story.