President Obama declared Virginia disaster area in the wake of Hurricane Irene. That means FEMA assistance will be available.
About 656,000 homes and businesses in Virginia were without power Sunday, knocked out by a slow-moving Hurricane Irene that toppled trees and electric lines, forced colleges to again cancel classes and was blamed for at least four deaths.
At its peak, the storm left 2.5 million people in the dark, making the blackout the second-largest behind Hurricane Isabel in 2003. Nearly half of the customers without power are in the Richmond and Tri-Cities area. At one point, 1.2 million customers of Dominion Virginia Power were without electricity.
