MD Nor'easter Cleanup: 29K Without Power, Wind Warning On Bridges

BALTIMORE, MD — Maryland residents continue to clean up downed tree limbs and power crews will work Monday to get more than 29,000 residents still without electricity back on the grid. The aftermath of Friday's nor'easter left toppled trees, downed power lines and high wind warnings on the state's major bridges. The state's emergency management website said Monday morning that 62,464 Maryland utility customers remain without power, which had dropped to 29,809 still without power by 3 p.m. At its peak the outage affected about 489,000 customers on Friday.

The hardest hit area is Harford County, where Baltimore Gas & Electric still has 9,754 customers without power. The Harford Center on North Earlton Road is closed Monday after a tree fell on a nearby power line, delaying restoration of utilities to the not-for-profit day program serving those with disabilities.

In the city, Havre de Grace Elementary was also closed on Monday due to a lack of power. Havre de Grace Elementary School is also without power and closed on Monday, March 5. Part of the auditorium roof at Havre de Grace High School blew off, but that school is open.

There were more than 30,000 outages reported in Harford County, and County Executive Barry Glassman declared a state of emergency. (For more news like this, find your local Patch here. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here.)

BGE officials said they were working around-the-clock on repairs.

"We continue to thank our customers for their patience and understanding as our employees, joined by crews from other states and Canada, work to fully restore service interrupted by this destructive storm," Rodney Oddoye, vice president of customer operations and chief customer officer for BGE, said in a statement Sunday night. "We understand the difficulties our customers are facing and are working to safely restore power as quickly as possible."

In Baltimore County, 24,456 BG&E customers were without power at 10 a.m. Monday. A Patch reader shared a photo of a large tree down Sunday near the Bright Meadow Apartments on Tolgate Road in Owings Mills.

In the city of Baltimore, 6,583 customers were without power mid-morning; 1,290 customers were offline in Carroll County; 5,603 customers are out in Howard County; 8,997 customers are still without electricity in Anne Arundel County; 1,450 customers are out in Montgomery County; and 2,439 customers are out in Prince George's County.

Wind warnings were in place early Monday morning at the Chesapeake Bay, (I-95) Tydings, (I-695) Key and (US 40) Hatem bridges. Maryland Transportation Authority officials lifted the warning for the Bay and Key bridges just before 10 a.m.

Wind warning conditions mean drivers of house trailers, box trailers, motorcycles, vehicles with roof-mount racks containing cargo or any other vehicle that may be subject to high winds should use caution while traveling across the bridge.

Officials urged drivers to keep travel speeds down and both hands on the steering wheel during these conditions. Speed limits are based on normal road and weather conditions, not hazardous road conditions. Wind gusts are unpredictable.

Bridge status: Get real-time updates on major incidents on Twitterand see live traffic camera images on MDTA roadways at mdta.maryland.gov. Or follow the MDTA on Facebook at facebook.com/TheMDTA.

Important Maryland Utility Numbers Include:

• PEPCO: 1-877-737-2662
• Baltimore Gas and Electric (BG&E): 1-877-778-2222 or 1-800-685-0123
• First Energy/Potomac Edison: 1-888-544-4877
• SMECO: 1-877-747-6326 or 1-888-440-3311
• Washington Gas: 1-800-752-7520
• Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission: 1-800-828-4002

SEE ALSO:

• Top MD Wind Gusts Town By Town For March 2 2018
• Kingsville Woman Killed By Tree Branch: Official
• Harford County Storm Leaves 30K Without Power, 33 Roads Closed
• 45K Without Power In Baltimore County, 9 Roads Closed After Storm
• Hatem Bridge Reopens After Tree Falls Across Road

Patch Editor Elizabeth Janney contributed to this story.

Photo of tree down in Loch Haven community in Edgewater submitted by Patch reader Theresa Hook