Hurricane Irene cancellations and updates

Your source for the latest in business, street, and road closings, as well as important updates.

August 26, 2011; 5:24 PM • by RVANews staff

UPDATE (Monday):

• All city parks and recreation swimming pools are closed today due to power outages and storm debris. Site inspections are currently underway, and pools will re-open once determined safe for public use. In addition, the following community centers are closed today due to power outages: Westover, Ann Hardy, Hotchkiss, Battery Park, and Creighton Court.

• Henrico citizens can “take their unbagged storm-related yard debris and vegetative waste free of charge to Henrico’s East and West landfills. Bagged yard waste and bulky waste, including scrap wood, drywall, carpets and soiled food, will be charged at the rate of $3 per load.”

• Dominion: 75% of all customers without power will have their electricity restored by the end of the workday on Wednesday. 90-95% of customers will have their electricity restored by the “end of the day Friday.” Restoration effort involves more than 6,000 workers, 1,100 bucket trucks.

• Dominion reports that more than 1.2 million of their customers has been affected in Virginia and North Carolina, and will be the second-largest restoration effort since Hurricane Isabel.

• As of this morning, Dominion reports that roughly 286,000 customers are still without power.

 

UPDATE (Sunday):

• VCU and the VCU Medical Center – MCV Campus, are open and on a regular work and academic schedule. There is full power on our Richmond campuses, with no outages reported during the storm. Classes will be held Monday as scheduled.

• 3pm, Henrico opens free water filling stations; 4pm Fire Station No. 2 Darbytown Road and Fire Station No. 15 Mountain Road. Bring your own container

• 2pm, According to the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM), all interstates are open, 26 primary roads closed, and 200 secondary roads closed throughout the state.

 

UPDATE (Saturday):

• 2pm, Gov. McDonnell says that, “The next 12 hours are going to be very, very bad for Virginians.”

• From Gov. McDonnell’s office: “Governor Bob McDonnell has spent the morning and early afternoon at the Virginia Emergency Operations Center at the Virginia State Police headquarters in Chesterfield. He has been meeting with emergency officials and calling local officials. He also participated in a FEMA video conference call with President Obama and held a press briefing on emergency preparedness efforts and storm status in Virginia.”

• ROAD CLOSURES: Althea and 1st, Westmoreland between Patterson and Leonard, Hull and Warwick, Marshall and 6th, 4000 block of Grove, Monument and Robinson, Patterson and Tilden, Elkhart and Hull

• 1:50pm, Dominion Power reports that there are over 52,000 power outages throughout the Richmond region.

• 1:00pm, approaching 35,000 without power out of 500,000 customers in the Richmond area

• 12:33pm, According to Dan Goff, heavier rains are moving inland and heading towards I-95 corridor from Richmond to North Carolina. Worsening conditions over the next 1-2 hrs

• As of 11:50am, there are now over 15,000 people without power in the area

• As of 11:25am, there are about 10,000 people without power in the Richmond metro area

• Here are a list of area shelters that are currently open or will open later today, care of the Virginia Capital Region of the Red Cross:

Sussex County:

– Sussex Central High School: 21394 Sussex Drive, Sussex, VA 23884

– EW Chambliss Elementary: 10415 Higgins Street Wakefield, VA 23888

Chesterfield County/Colonial Heights (Opened at 10 a.m. on Aug. 27)

– Colonial Heights Middle School: 500 Conduit Road Colonial Heights, VA 23834

Henrico City:

– Elko Middle School (Opening at 2 p.m. on Aug. 27) 5901 Elko Road Sandston, VA 23150

– John Rolfe Middle School (Opening at 2 p.m. on Aug. 27) 6901 Messer Road Road Henrico VA 23231

King George City:

– King George Middle School (Opening at 2 p.m. on Aug. 27) 8246 Dahlgren Rd. King George, VA 22485

Stafford City:

– Brook Point High School (Opening at 12 p.m. Aug. 27) 1700 Courthouse Road, Stafford, VA 22554

City of Richmond:

– Arthur Ashe Center (Opening at 12 p.m. Aug. 27) 3001 North Boulevard Richmond, VA 23230

– Huguenot High School (Opening at 12 p.m. Aug. 27) 7945 Forest Hill Avenue, Richmond, VA 23225

• If you are going to a shelter, call 254-1191 to arrange for your dog to be taken to Animal Care for the night.

• Wind gusts reported at 40 mph. Power outages may spread. REMINDER: If your electricity goes out for any reason, call Dominion Power 1-866-DOM-HELP.

• If wind gusts exceed 45 mph, officials will shut down bridges and tunnels. Furthermore, bridge and road closures will be reported on www.511Virginia.org or by calling 511 on any phone

• Shelters opening at noon at Arthur Ashe Junior Elementary School and Huguenot High School. Enter HS from back into gym. Only service animals allowed.

• Some are reporting that areas in Church Hill are without power

 

Even with Irene not expected to arrive in Richmond until tomorrow afternoon, there have been cancellations and postponements announced already.

We will be updating this list over the next several days. Please post your updates and news in the Comments section. Knowledge is power, even though you may lose power in your home.

Cancellations

• Tonight’s Movie in the Park, Dogs and Cats: Revenge of Kitty Galore will be rescheduled at a future date.

• Gallery5’s event, Monster Drawing Rally, has been cancelled for this evening and will be rescheduled at a later date.

• The Richmond YMCA will post updates on their Facebook page, Twitter stream, and provide information should you call this number: (804) 649-9622 (ext: 250).

 

Info

• Dominion Power – If your electricity goes out for any reason, call 1-866-DOM-HELP.

• The city will provide updates through their official website and Twitter throughout Irene’s presence.

 

 

photo by madame.furie

August 26, 2011 5:24 PM 3