Updated: Old Town Alexandria Recovers from Hurricane Irene

The waterfront community of Old Town Alexandria emerged from an overnight pounding from Hurricane Irene largely unscathed.

By Sunday afternoon, many residents and tourists were out and about enjoying what appeared to be a typical, if somewhat windy, day on the waterfront.

Alexandrians Roger Flount and his daughter threw crumbs to ducks and said they enjoyed the nice weather.

"It's good to get out of the house," he said.

The Starbucks at the corner of King and Union streets was packed, with two 10-person deep lines keeping the baristas busy.

"I have electricity but wanted to get out and enjoy the day," said Terry Anderson, who said she had no problems at her apartment due to Irene.

City crews were visible quickly picking up fallen branches and an increased police presence around Old Town was evident.

Despite some fallen branches, Old Town did not look any the worse for wear. It looked like it had gotten a jump on fall with leaves riddling the sidewalks and walkways. Water on the streets was reduced to a few puddles by lunch time.

On Saturday, citizens had clamored to get their five allotted sandbags from the 10,000 that the city handed out in preparation for the monster storm.

City of Alexandria spokesman Tony Castrilli said as of Sunday morning about 10,000 residents did not have electricity, but that number was dropping quickly.

"We’re stressing to people that they should call the 746 help line to report debris that is the city's responsibility," he said, referring to the city's Storm Hotline, 703-746-HELP. "We were fortunate that we didn’t experience any injuries and any major damage. There’s damage obviously but not extensive damage and virtually no flooding in Old Town."

The city's Emergency Operations Center staffed by city employees was up and running at noon on Saturday and Castrilli said he expects it will continue until about 6 p.m. Sunday.

On Saturday, the center was flooded with questions about obtaining sandbags and other information, but "this morning it's information about trees down, large debris and some structural damage," he said. 

City crews including staff from the Transportation and Environmental Services and Parks and Recreation departments are on 12 hour shifts monitoring and cleaning up the city.

"They are evaluating and prioritizing based on what police department is seeing," Castrilli said.

Light debris could be seen along King Street on Sunday morning, although fallen trees were being reported in several Old Town streets, including on N. Pitt Street and in the Carlyle neighborhood.