6 a.m. Update: 118,000 Without Power in Northern Virginia

Alexandria City and Southern Fairfax County residents may not know the extent of the damage in the area until it the sun rises, but reports of downed trees, branches and power lines are widespread.

At 5:30 a.m., Hurricane Irene made landfall at Little Egg Inlet, N.J., which is about 15 miles north of Atlantic City and 100 miles SSW of New York City. The storm was heading NNE at 18 mph with maximum sustained winds at 75 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Locally, wind and rain will continue this morning, diminishing sometime in the mid-morning hours with some potential clearing by late afternoon.

Dominion Virginia Power reported that as of 5:30 a.m. 119,000 without power in Northern Virginia. 886,000 in Virginia. As people wake up this morning, the reports of outages are expected to rincrease. (To report an outage, call 866-DOM-HELP or 866-366-4357. Please have your account number handy.)

Patch has been live-blogging storm coverage continuously since Friday afternoon. For frequent updates on the storm, local resources and information, go to the homepage of your local Patch site and look for the live blog there. It will be one of our top stories through Sunday.

Patch will be surveying localized damage Sunday morning. You can upload your photos to our ongoing gallery in our live blog by clicking on ‘manage your photos and videos’ below the main photo.