Part of the George Washington Memorial Parkway remains closed as crews continue to clean up the damage left behind from Friday's deadly storm. Officials say the road will likely stay closed through the Tuesday morning rush.
All lanes of the road are shut down between Belle View Boulevard in Alexandria, Virginia, and Alexandria Avenue in the Fort Hunt area.
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WATCH HEREDrivers who rely on that section of the road have to take detours through neighborhood streets, which caused significant backups during the Monday morning rush.
"These are 25 mile-an-hour streets and there's a lot of new traffic. A lot of folks aren’t paying attention, checking their route on Waze or other maps," said Jenn Folsom, a resident in the area.
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SIGN UP Intense storms brought down about 15 trees onto the Parkway Friday night, the National Park Service (NPS) said. Many more trees were damaged.
Crews were still working to cut up large trees and clear them from the road Monday morning.
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"Before the road can safely reopen, hazardous trees that pose the most immediate risk must be removed," NPS said in a release.
Officials said the stretch of the road will likely stay closed through the Tuesday morning rush.
Two people died in the storms because trees fell on their cars.
"That thing hit so fast — and left so fast," resident Nick Kappa said.
Kappa said he was able to walk right down the middle of the GW Parkway during his morning exercise routine.
"I walked the actual parkway where traffic usually is, and that was very eerie. Very much like a modern day episode of Twilight Zone," he said.
Thousands of people across the D.C. area lost power.
"Really intense. Really short, but pretty quickly, folks were out of power. We’ve got power back but still don't have internet, so if you’re working from home today, that’s a little challenging," Folsom said.
