Hanna floods roads, cuts power lines

Tropical Storm Hanna brought wind, heavy rains and flooding to the region Saturday, prompting road closures throughout Prince William County.

The storm cleared after 5 p.m., leaving blue skies and power outages in its wake.

Dominion Virginia Power said 44,500 of their Northern Virginia customers were without power after 4 p.m., according to Le-Ha Anderson, with Dominion Virginia.

By 8 p.m. the number had fallen to 8,300, with 84 of those customers residing in Prince William.

Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative, which also provides electric power to parts of the county, reported more than 500 verified outages and nearly 1,800 unverified outages, according to its Web site.

Hanna brought rainfall totals of more than eight inches in Woodbridge -- most of any Northern Virginia locality -- and nearly five inches in Haymarket, according to the National Weather Service.

The storm also brought a 44 mph sustained wind gust to Manassas Regional Airport, the strongest recorded in the county.

High-standing water, measured by feet in a few areas, forced some area roadways to be closed, including U.S. 1 and Centreville and Brentsville roads. Rescue crews also wrangled with downed trees and power lines across the county.

"Everybody is out working on this right now, and I expect we will be out there for some time," said Erika Hernandez, Prince William police spokeswoman.

Prince William County Service Authority workers were pumping water out of low-lying Occoquan, as river levels there were expected to rise during the

afternoon.

"We are especially focusing on our facilities near tidal waters, and will continue to monitor the possible surge at high tide," said authority spokesman Keenan Howell just after 2 p.m. Saturday. High tide occurred at 12:32 p.m.

Howell said at least six pumps and 40 workers were dispatched to prevent water from overwhelming storm drains.

Kevin Oswalt, owner of the Virginia Grill, said he has seen hard rain cause problems in the area

before.

"It's an old drainage system in the town, but even with the rain I only expect the river to rise about 2 to 3 feet before the storm moves out," said Oswalt. The restaurant sits along the

Occoquan River and its rear parking lot often floods during heavy rain storms, according to Oswalt.

"We haven't had rain like this in at least six months," he said.

The rains didn't stop Steve O'Harans of Lake Ridge from going outside for a taste of tropical weather. He and his 8-year-old son were walking the sidewalks of Occoquan with umbrellas in hand.

"I didn't do too much to prepare for the storm," said O'Harans. "I listened to the weather guys but I didn't think it would get that bad."

The storm made landfall northeast of Myrtle Beach, S.C., about 3:20 Saturday morning. The storm never gained hurricane strength, but did cause minor damage in the Carolinas as it moved north.

As Hanna quickly left this region moving north, the weather service said the storm is expected it to lose its tropical characteristics as it moves through southern Maine and the Canadian Maritimes today.

Uriah A. Kiser can be reached at 703-878-8065.