ARLINGTON, Va. — Editor's Note: Peggy Fox, interviewed in this story as a representative of Dominion Energy, is a former WUSA9 reporter.
Aggressive weekend storms left behind a mess in parts of Arlington, Virginia on Monday. Downed power lines, trees on top of cars and more than 800 homes were still without power as of 5:30 p.m.
“It was a first for me!” 67-year-old Bennie Oliphant said while describing the storm.
Oliphant said he’s never seen such a quick moving and destructive storm come through this area. He’s lived in Arlington his whole life.
“I was watching television, then all of sudden, everything just went out, boom!” he said.
His across-the-street neighbor, Yamille King, echoed Oliphant's reaction.
“A lot of loud thunder, popping from what I thought was a transformer, and then blackness,” King said.
The neighbors said they’ve been in the dark since around 6:30 p.m. Sunday. Dominion Energy has been working around the clock to restore the lights, but told WUSA9 it could take at least eight hours.
"We've got windshields bashed in, we've got trees down in the road," Peggy Fox with Dominion Energy said. "My first thought is thank God nobody was hurt.The damage is severe and somebody could have been hurt in this very severe storm last night."
The clean-up efforts kept a portion of South Frederick St at 10th Street closed Monday, creating a bit of traffic congestion and confusion. Thankfully Monday's temperatures were down from the weekend scorcher.
“It’s been interesting, it’s also been really calm,” King said.
Though King said she’d prefer lights and hot water, she said her family has taken advantage of the forced quality time.
“I mean, it’s weird because we get to know our kids a different way and see how they are without electronics, which is really funny," she said. "It’s been really cool. We got to get to know each other again and talk and laugh, even in the dark."