Ice storm wreaks havoc around region

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Alexandria was plagued with dozens of traffic accidents and power outages after ice covered the region this week.

All state troopers, on or off duty, who serve Alexandria and the surrounding areas were called to deal with storm-related accidents, according to Virginia State Police Sgt. Kerry Allander.

As of noon Feb. 13, there were 248 weather-related crashes in Northern Virginia, Allander said.

The Fairfax County Police Department did not have traffic accident numbers, but there were a lot of accidents, said Officer Shelly Broderick, a spokeswoman for the department.

Vehicles crashing into utility pools and icy trees breaking onto power lines caused more than 8,300 customers in Fairfax County to lose power as of noon on Wednesday, according to Le-ha Anderson, a spokesperson for Dominion Virginia Power, the area’s largest power company.

More than 97,000 Dominion customers throughout Northern Virginia had suffered power outages as, and 17,000 customers were without power as of that time, Anderson said.

With the National Weather Service predicting more ice and snow for parts of Northern Virginia on Wednesday afternoon and evening, Dominion crews are bracing for more outages.

Snow isn’t normally a problem for us, but snow on the trees coupled with ice can cause the trees to break easier, Anderson said.

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