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Two people were killed when fast-moving storms sent trees crashing onto occupied vehicles in the Mount Vernon area on Friday evening, May 16.
One victim was traveling on the George Washington Memorial Parkway near Morningside Lane when a tree fell onto the car.
The second fatality occurred near Frye Road and Pole Road in Woodlawn. Officers responding at 5:40 p.m. found 27-year-old Alexandria resident Juliana Kai Russell inside a 2020 Toyota Camry after a tree struck the vehicle. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
A fallen tree also hit another vehicle carrying members of the West Potomac High School lacrosse team on the parkway. None of the passengers was injured.
The storm brought winds of about 70 mph and knocked out power to 30,000 homes. Some outages continued for more than two days.
The U.S. Park Police and Fairfax County Police Department responded during the storm. The parkway remained closed that evening and into Saturday, May 17, as crews cleared fallen trees along the route.
Trees also came down across the Mount Vernon Trail, including an area south of Dyke Marsh.