On this day in 2003, Isabel swept through the D.C. area as a tropical storm, unleashing damaging winds and a towering storm surge up the Tidal Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay that flooded Old Town Alexandria and Annapolis. The storm, which made landfall along the North Carolina Outer Banks as a Category 2 hurricane, downed trees all over the area and caused hundreds of thousands of power outages as winds gusted from 50 to 70 mph.
One of Isabel’s defining features locally was its surge. Strong, persistent winds from the south and east piled water into the Chesapeake Bay and forced it northward into the Potomac River, sending water levels to near-record heights in Washington and surrounding communities. In Alexandria, floodwaters inundated streets along the waterfront, while in Annapolis, businesses and homes were submerged under several feet of water.
“The day after Isabel’s swipe through the Washington region revealed a landscape trash-strewn and damaged: More than 1 million people in Northern Virginia were without reliable drinking water,” The Washington Post wrote. “Floodwaters were knee-deep in Annapolis’s downtown market. More than 300 trees blew down in the District alone.”
The winds were equally disruptive. Gusts up to 70 mph range snapped branches, toppled trees and knocked out power across much of the region. At the height of the storm, well over a million customers in the broader Mid-Atlantic lost electricity, some for days. The damage was widespread but uneven, with the hardest-hit areas seeing extensive tree loss and blocked roadways.
Unlike some tropical systems, Isabel moved quickly enough to limit catastrophic inland flooding from rain. But its combination of wind and surge made it a impactful storm for the D.C. region.
Isabel ranks up there with Agnes in 1972 and Hazel in 1954 among the most damaging to strike the D.C. area. Beause of its surge, it was in many ways comparable to the Potomac-Chesapeake Hurricane of 1933 in Virginia and Maryland.
See these articles for more information:
- Remembering Hurricane Isabel, 10 years later (from 2013)
- Isabel’s Winds, Rain Batter Region
- Isabel’s High Winds Prove Deceptively Perilous
- Aftermath
Kevin Ambrose contributed to this report.
Here are other notables from this date:
- Average high: 80
- Average low: 63
- Record high: 91 (1927)
- Record low: 45 (1937)
- Record rainfall: 2.28 inches (2003)
