Dominion: Crews Won't Be Allowed Out Until Winds Die Down

Hurricane Irene is putting pressure on power lines and utility workers. Over 21,000 Northern Virginia customers are without power, according to Dominion.

Those without power are out of luck for the moment. Crews are on standby, waiting for the weather to improve and the winds to die down before heading out to fix broken connections. Dominion says crews won't be out and about until it's safe.

The number of customers without power hit the 10,000 mark at 5 p.m. Saturday. That number quickly grew between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. as Irene came up Virginia's southern coast. Lately it has fluctuated around 20-22,000 outages. 

Most of the outages are occurring in Arlington and Alexandria. A few have been reported south and southeast of Fairfax City.

Outage timeline for Northern Virginia (estimates):

• 5:30 - 13,000
• 6:00 - 16,500
• 6:17 - 23,000
• 6:30 - 22,000
• 7:00 - 22,000
• 7:30 - 20,000
• 8:00 - 21,000 
• 8:30 - 20,000 
• 9:00 - 21,800
• 9:30 - 25,000
• 9:44 - 27,900
• 10:30 - 32,000
• 11:00 - 33,000
• 11:30 - 28,800
• 12:00 - 29,000
• 12:30 - 30,000
• 12:45 - 33,000

Out of 2.4 million customers Dominion serves in Virginia and North Carolina, about 800,000 are without power. 

Click here for an interactive map of outages as they're reported.

For live updates, .

No power at your home? Leave a note in the comments or email whitney@patch.com.