Maryland weather: Crews working to restore power, clear roads in Baltimore after Friday storms
Another thunderstorm passed through the Baltimore region Friday night, knocking down trees, wires and flooding some streets. Although power has been restored for most residents in the Baltimore region, hundreds of customers in Northeast Baltimore are still without power.
As of Saturday morning, Baltimore Gas and Electric restored power to about 98% of customers impacted by the strong storms in central Maryland on Thursday and Friday nights, according to a news release. BGE expects to restore power for all customers by the end of Sunday.
A little more than 550 customers remained without power Saturday afternoon, according to BGE. The majority of remaining outages are concentrated in Northeast Baltimore, where 450 customers still need power.
“Much of this work is extremely labor intensive and time consuming and are likely to restore service to smaller groups of customers at a time,” a BGE news release said.
The Baltimore area received 0.28 inches of total rainfall while downtown saw 0.77 inches from Friday’s storms, according to NWS. Annapolis saw 0.37 inches.
There were numerous street floodings reported in Baltimore City Friday evening, including near Fells Point and at John Hopkins Hospital, according to NWS storm reports.
While all roads are passable, residents should stay off the roads as some streets, mainly concentrated in Northeast Baltimore, are partially blocked, said Jacia Smith, chief of staff for the city’s department of recreation and parks, at a news conference Saturday.
Mayor Brandon Scott asked residents to avoid downed power lines and to check on neighbors. Residents should call 911 to report a downed service line and generators need to be placed at least 20 feet away from occupied buildings, he said.
“We know Baltimore is resilient and we will overcome these obstacles together,” Scott said.
Earlier Saturday, an emergency resource center in Northeast Baltimore was open to assist residents impacted by the storms. The center, located at at the Baltimore City Public Schools Professional Development Center at 2500 E. Northern Parkway, offered air conditioning, WiFi access, cellphone charging, and food and bottled water.
In neighborhoods nearby, residents were working to remove downed branches from their yards and loading them onto utility trailers and truck beds.
Deputy Chief James Wallace with the city’s Office of Emergency Management said city officials have been in constant communication the Red Cross, Baltimore City Fire Department and other agencies to get people through this “disaster time,” he said.
There have been no reported deaths or injuries, Wallace said.
The resource center was largely empty before noon. Misty L. Bruce, executive director of the Red Cross’ Southern Maryland Chapter, said, however, that dozens of people have come in and out for service since the morning.
Friday’s storms came one day after severe storms knocked down trees and left thousands without power Thursday night. Elsewhere in the state, a waterspout tornado devastated a corner of Maryland’s Smith Island.
While flood warnings have been lifted, conditions for the next five days continue to look wet. There are chances of scattered thunderstorms beginning Saturday afternoon. Then chances of thunderstorms through Tuesday before possible showers Wednesday.
Skies will be mostly cloudy with highs in the 90s and lows in the 70s for the next couple of days, according to NWS.
