A Quiet Evening, As Far As Hurricanes Go

Update, Saturday, 8:30 p.m.:

The rain and wind have picked up. What do you see in your neighborhood?

Meanwhile, Fairfax County has activated its Emergency Operations Center. Check out the center's blog here.

The flash flood warning remains in effect until 11 p.m.

More than 20,000 Northern Virginia customers were without power in the early evening, according to Dominion Virginia Power. They will have to wait out the storm before help arrives, though.

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.

Update, Saturday 7:15 p.m.: 

Reston appears to be on the quiet side of Hurricane Irene. Steady rain has been falling for a few hours, but there have not been reports of any high winds or damage nearby.

Not everyone has been so lucky.

Hurricane Irene has contributed to the deaths of five people while making its way up the East Coast, including an 11-year-old boy who died when a tree fell on his family's apartment in Newport News.

Two deaths have been reported in Virginia and three were reported in North Carolina, according to the New York Times.

A tropical storm warning is still in effect for the area, as rain and winds have picked up in Northern Virginia. As of 5 p.m., the storm was roughly 50 miles southeast of Norfolk, and moving north-northeast at 13 miles per hour, with maximum sustained winds near 80 miles per hour. 

The hurricane is forecast to move over the Mid-Atlantic coast on Saturday night and over southern New England on Sunday. The worst weather in Northern Virginia will occur between 6 p.m. tonight and 6 a.m. Sunday.

Patch is live-blogging the storm coverage throughout the weekend. For frequent updates on the storm, local resources and information, go to the homepage of this site and look for the live blog there. It will be one of our top stories through Sunday.

 Follow Patch's Northern Virginia Hurricane Irene page for Facebook updates on the storm, especially if you lose power but have Facebook on your mobile phone.

To follow our live blog,

Original Story, Saturday, 3 p.m.:

The National Weather Service says Reston will start to be hit  with showers and thunderstorms Saturday afternoon, producing some heavy rainfall. Winds will be to the northeast and about 21-24 miles per hour, with gusts as high as 34 miles per hour.

By Saturday night, the area will experience tropical storm conditions, with showers, heavy thunderstorms, and winds of 32-37 miles per hour and about two to three inches of rain possible.

Many area businesses closed or were planning to close Saturday afternoon. The YMCA said it would close at 5 p.m. Reston Town Center cancelled its Concert on the Town.

Dominion Virginia Power reported 5,200 customers without power at about 2 p.m.

Area residents who live outside the town of Herndon should refer to the list of Fairfax County numbers should they need assistance. That list .

Fairfax County is under a tropical storm warning and a flash flood watch through tonight and into the early hours of Sunday morning.

As of 1 p.m. the eye of the storm was over Outer Banks, NC with winds of about 85 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service. The worst of the storm will be moving through the Washington, D.C. metro region from late afternoon today through early Sunday morning.

Gov. Bob McDonnell declared a state of emergency in Virginia on Thursday in preparation for the storm. During a press conference on Friday he said officials believe the impact of the storm will be equal to or greater than Hurricane Isabel eight years ago.

"I would warn the residents it's critically important to keep your eye on the TV and listen to the radio and listen to the warnings because the National Hurricane Center updates every three hours," McDonnell said. "It certainly possible we'll see additional fluctuations."

• Follow Patch's Northern Virginia Hurricane Irene page for Facebook updates on the storm. Send photos, videos and your experiences of the storm to us at leslie@patch.com or adding your photos and comments to our articles.