WASHINGTON — Portions of the George Washington Memorial Parkway have reopened after being closed for more than 48 hours due to ongoing storm cleanup, causing delays during to commutes.
The National Park Service warned drivers to avoid the George Washington Parkway Monday morning. Weekend storms caused trees to fall into the road, closing portions of the parkway Sunday night into Monday morning. About seven miles of the George Washington Memorial Parkway was closed to commuters Monday morning.
“Yesterday, crews removed 250-325 hazardous trees, resulting in 100 dump-truck and 15 chipper-truck loads, and more than 500 tons of wood and debris," Charles Cuvelier, George Washington Memorial Parkway superintendent, said.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the entire northbound lane had reopened, while the southbound lane between 495 and the Spout Run Parkway remains closed.
Drivers in the area should follow U.S. Park Police direction and find alternate routes if possible. It is not known how long the closure will be in place. If you see a downed tree on the parkway, you're asked to contact Park Police at 202-610-7500.
Residents all across the DMV are still cleaning up from storms that ripped through the region early Saturday evening, leaving thousands without power, and possibly killing one Virginia man.
It left many questioning what caused damaging winds in the D.C. region. Though some comments on these posts claimed tornadoes or a derecho caused those strong winds, WUSA9 meteorologists say that was not the case.
Tornadoes were not detected during Saturday's storm. Just as important, the storm was also not classified as a derecho. That means that the thunderstorm winds were likely caused by downburst winds.
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