Georgetown Pike car crash caused Saturday power outage in McLean area

About 1,400 people in the McLean and Great Falls area lost power Saturday night (May 20) due to a car crash on Georgetown Pike.

A photo sent to FFXnow shows a silver sedan that had smashed into a large green power box, coming to a rest against a streetlight.

The vehicle caused the outage when it crashed into the box, which had a power switch in it, according to Dominion Energy spokesperson Peggy Fox.

“Vehicle accidents are a common cause of power outages. There are transformers on poles and transformers on the ground and when vehicles hit them, they can and do cause outages,” Fox said, though she confirmed that this particular box wasn’t a transformer.

Outage Update:
About 1200 @DominionEnergy customer outages in NoVa, most in McLean & Great Falls.

Crews have been repairing a broken pole in Great Falls; crews heading to McLean.
Estimated Time of Restoration for both areas is 12 AM—3 AM.

Thank you for your patience.

— Peggy Fox (@PeggyDomEnergy) May 21, 2023

Georgetown Pike is closed between Potomac Knolls Drive and Kimberwicke Road in McLean due to power lines in the roadway. We anticipate this closure will last for several hours. Please use an alternate route. #FCPD pic.twitter.com/lSp1uxTOgH

— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) May 20, 2023

Tysonians, who else's power went out last night and what did you do? #TysonsCorner #TysonsVA #Tysons #poweroutage https://t.co/7jhOV9IeMb

— Tysons, VA (@TysonsVA) May 21, 2023

The outage mostly affected Great Falls and McLean, including Tysons. Georgetown Pike was closed between Kimberwicke Road and Potomac Knolls Drive for multiple hours, starting around 6:30 p.m., as crews worked to restore power, according to the Fairfax County Police Department.

The loss of electricity came just one day after a separate crash took down power lines on Old Courthouse Road.

That crash on Friday (May 19) involved a tractor-trailer that hit a pole near Lord Fairfax Road and got entangled in the power lines. The truck blocked Old Courthouse between Hull Road and Gallows Road, requiring a night-long closure for repairs.

The resulting power outage, though, was relatively limited, affecting fewer than 50 Dominion Energy customers, according to the utility’s outage map.

Courthouse Rd remains closed between Gallows Rd and Hull Rd in Tysons. Please continue to avoid the area. Closure is expected to last through the night. pic.twitter.com/6QLHo0qQiV

— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) May 20, 2023

The impact on power in the area seems limited. Dominion Energy shows outages affecting 48 customers, estimating restoration around 9 p.m. to midnight https://t.co/zNsObYkUCG

— Tysons Reporter (@TysonsReporter) May 19, 2023

Read more on FFXnow…