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More than 10,000 Dominion Energy customers in Fairfax County lost power as thunderstorms swept through the Washington region on July 9, 2025.

By 7:20 p.m., outages were concentrated across south-central Fairfax County, stretching from Newington north toward Falls Church, according to the utility’s outage map.

The storms brought intense rainfall, damaging winds and frequent lightning as the National Weather Service issued severe thunderstorm warnings, a Flood Watch and a Flash Flood Warning for parts of the region.

The Flash Flood Warning covered northeastern Fairfax County until 8:45 p.m. It also included Arlington County, Alexandria, Falls Church, the District of Columbia and south-central Montgomery County.

Radar showed storms moving into the area from Sterling with the potential to produce 1 to 2 inches of rain in 20 minutes. The weather service said another 1 to 3 inches could fall across the warned area, making flash flooding imminent or already underway.

Officials warned that small streams, streets, highways, underpasses and other low-lying or poorly drained areas could flood. Communities named in the alert included Annandale, Vienna, Mantua, McLean, Pimmit Hills, Springfield, Fort Belvoir and Falls Church.

Drivers were urged not to enter flooded roads because most flood deaths occur in vehicles.

At 6:08 p.m., the weather service issued a separate Severe Thunderstorm Warning for southeastern Fairfax County and portions of Alexandria and Maryland’s Prince George’s and Charles counties. The warning was scheduled to remain in effect until 7 p.m.

Radar detected a line of severe storms extending from Springfield to Quantico and moving east at 20 mph. The storms were producing wind gusts of up to 60 mph, along with large hail and continuous cloud-to-ground lightning.

The weather service warned that damaging winds could topple trees and large branches, block roads, damage homes and vehicles, and cause localized outages. People were advised to move indoors to an interior room on the lowest floor of a building.

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remained in effect across the Washington region until 10 p.m., while the Flood Watch was scheduled to continue until midnight.