Tropical Storm — Fairfax, Virginia

2003-09-18 to 2003-09-19 · Fairfax, Virginia

Wider weather episode

On September 18, 2003, Hurricane Isabel made landfall on the North Carolina Coast. Its huge wind field was already piling water up into the southern Chesapeake Bay. By the time Isabel moved into central Virginia, it had weakened and was downgraded to a tropical storm. Isabel's eye tracked well west of the bay, but the storm's 40 to 60 mph sustained winds pushed a bulge of water northward up the bay and its tributaries producing a record storm surge. The Virginia western shore counties of the Chesapeake Bay and the tidal tributaries of the Potomac, Rappahannock and other smaller rivers, experienced a storm surge which reached 5 to 9 feet above normal tides. In many locations, Isabel's surge was higher than the previous record storm known as the Chesapeake-Potomac Hurricane of 1933. For coastal properties below 10 feet MSL exposed to wave action, much damage was wrought. Impact on the commonwealth of Virginia as a whole is staggering with $1.6 billion in damages with over 1,186 homes and 77 businesses destroyed, 9,110 homes and 333 businesses with major damage and 107,908 homes and over 1,000 businesses affected or impacted with minor damage. An estimated 660,000 dump trucks of debris was generated. At least 10 people were directly killed by the storm with hundreds injured. Almost 2 million electrical customers found themselves without power. Crop losses were calculated to be $59.3 million with another $57.6 million in damages to fences, farm buildings and equipment. Cost to Virginia's Dominion power were $128 million, Red Cross outlays $6 million, military bases $283 million, private property $732 million, National Park Service $123 million, public property $270 million. In Alexandria, the water level in Old Town reached 9.5 feet MSL. Numerous businesses were flooded and the marinas were hard hit. Winds also knocked trees down around the city. Damages totaled $2 million. Storm surge water flooded the employee parking lot of Reagan National Airport. Arlington had 2 homes destroyed and 46 with major damage. Another 146 residences had minor damage. Costs of flooding and damage from falling trees were estimated at $2.5 million. In Fairfax County, 160 homes and 60 condominiums were washed out in the Belleview area south of Alexandria. Over 2000 units had minor to moderate damage from storm surge flooding. In addition, many trees fell causing additional property damage across the county. In the City of Fairfax, 15 homes had major damage from trees. Fairfax County damages came to $18 million. In King George County, four homes and 20 businesses had major damage. An estimated 150 to 200 homes were damaged by wind and falling trees. Dahlgren was the most impacted part of the county which includes the Naval Warfare base. The Route 301 Harry Nice Bridge was closed due to high winds and much of the county was without power. In Prince William County, seven homes were destroyed and 24 homes and 3 businesses had major damage. Scattered trees and wires were down causing roads to be closed. The storm surge washed away 20 feet of embankment along the Potomac which caused one of the CSX tracks to collapse along the Cherry Hill Peninsula. Damages at Quantico Marine Base were significant. Quantico's weather station recorded a 2 minute sustained wind of 54 mph with a peak gust of 78 mph between 11 pm and Midnight on the 18th. Damages to the base included buildings, houses and vehicles hit by fallen trees and flooding destroyed their marina. Total damages were reported to be 9.5 million. In Stafford County, many boats at the docks broke free. Five marinas were destroyed. Thirty-one homes had major damage from fallen trees and another 68 had minor damage with an additional 56 properties affected.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5335422. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.