A thunderstorm is bearing down on Fairfax County, bringing some potential, albeit limited relief from the ongoing heat wave.
The National Weather Service has issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for parts of the D.C. area, including northwestern Fairfax County. Damaging winds with gusts up to 60 mph are possible.
More than 70,000 Fairfax County homes and businesses are in the dark after a line of destructive storms ripped through the area.
Many of the outages are concentrated in the northern part of the county, from Great Falls to Vienna to McLean, though additional outages are reported around Springfield and Newington.
The National Weather Service has issued a Flash Flood Warning for Fairfax County and several surrounding jurisdictions in Northern Virginia, effective until 12:15 a.m. Monday.
Doppler radar shows thunderstorms producing heavy rain across the warned area, with 0.5 to 2 inches already fallen, according to NWS. Another couple of inches of rain is possible, with flash flooding ongoing or expected to begin shortly.
Fairfax County is under several Severe Thunderstorm Warnings this afternoon.
Strong, slow-moving storms popped up over the county shortly before 4 p.m. and have continued to overspread the area. The warnings cover Tysons, Centreville, Vienna, Oakton and other areas.
Updated at 6:50 p.m. — The Severe Thunderstorm Watch was canceled at 6:41 p.m., according to a National Weather Service alert.
Earlier: Fairfax County is under a Severe Thunderstorm Watch, and part of the county is also under a Severe Thunderstorm Warning.
(Updated at 6:30 p.m.) The thunderstorm has passed, but it has left some destruction in its wake, taking out electricity for more than 8,000 people in Fairfax County.
According to PowerOutage.US, there are currently 8,707 customers without power in the county.
Update at 9:15 p.m. — The earlier Tornado Warning, and one issued subsequently, have both been cancelled. It appears that a rotating storm — possibly a weak tornado — passed by Tysons Corner Center mall, according to video posted on social media. There are also reports of damage near the Tysons Corner Metro station.
Note that the video below contains strong language.
Waters from the Potomac River could spill over into Fairfax County, with the D.C. area expected to get almost nonstop rain tomorrow (Friday), the National Weather Service warns.
A Coastal Flood Warning will be in place for Northern Virginia, including Fairfax County, starting at 6 p.m. today (Thursday) until 8 a.m. Saturday (Oct. 30).
