Harford County Storm: Outages, Road Closures, State Of Emergency

HARFORD COUNTY, MD — Harford County Executive Barry Glassman declared a state of emergency in Harford County, where nearly one third of utility customers had their power knocked out by the nor'easter. Many roads across the county have been closed due to downed trees and utility lines.

Drivers should treat each intersection where power is out as four-way stop, and proceed with caution. See a list of road closures below.

The wind storm on Friday knocked out power to more than 400,000 BGE customers. Most are expected to have their power restored by Sunday evening, according to the utility company, which reported that "final repairs to pockets of more heavily damaged areas" may continue until the middle of the week.

There were 12,370 BGE outages and 36 Delmarva Power outages in Harford County as of 4 a.m. on Sunday.

Report outages to BGE online or by calling 1-877-778-2222.

Contact BGE at 1-877-778-2222 for outages or 1-800-685-0123 for downed wires. Call Delmarva Power at 1-800-898-8042.

Officials said that weather conditions and downed trees have hampered efforts to restore power.

"High winds have persisted throughout today and have continued to down trees and limbs and limit the operation of bucket trucks used for overhead repairs," BGE reported Saturday night.

Also complicating repairs: crews have to remove damaged trees from power lines before they can fix them.

Call BGE at 1-800-685-0123 to report downed wires.

Utility workers from Chicago arrived Saturday evening to assist BGE with restoration efforts, and more personnel from other areas are expected to come on Sunday as well, officials said. As it assesses damage, BGE says it will communicate specific restoration times through outage restoration channels.

More than 70,000 BGE customers were without power system-wide as of 4 a.m. on Sunday; of those, 12,370 were in Harford County.

Restoration priorities are public safety and critical care facilities — including 911 centers, hospitals and pumping stations, according to BGE. Then the company tries to schedule restoration so the greatest number of customers will be restored, and it also gives consideration to those who have had outages for the longest amount of time, BGE said in a statement.

Road Closures

After hours of closures and traffic delays, all bridges were open Saturday morning. The Tydings Bridge is in full wind restrictions, meaning tractor trailers less than 64,000 pounds are prohibited; and the Hatem Bridge is under a wind warning, which stipulates drivers of motorcycles, flatbed trucks, autos with cargo racks and other vehicles subject to high winds should use caution.

As of 4:30 p.m., BGE was reporting there were 21,054 customers without power and Delmarva Power said there were 210 outages in Harford County, meaning approximately 19.47 percent of county utility customers were experiencing outages.

There were 29,564 Harford County BGE customers without power and 556 Delmarva Power customers who reported outages as of 10:15 a.m. on Saturday, or about 26.67 percent of Harford County utility customers.

Contact BGE at 1-877-778-2222 for outages or 1-800-685-0123 for downed wires or Delmarva Power at 1-800-898-8042.

Harford County Executive Barry Glassman declared a local state of emergency at 10 p.m. on Friday, March 2, due to widespread power outages, downed trees and hazardous travel conditions. The declaration allows the county to apply for federal funds to pay for storm-related expenses.

_{Photo courtesy of Harford County Government.}

“...I urge our citizens to stay off the roads and stay inside if possible," Glassman said Saturday afternoon. "Our emergency operations center remains activated with dedicated staff and first responders working around the clock to assist citizens throughout the storm."

Here are places to warm up and charge devices:

• Fallston High School, 2301 Carrs Mill Road in Fallston
• Darlington Volunteer Fire Company, 2600 Castleton Road in Darlington
• Harford County Public Library branches; see locations

Rec centers in Havre de Grace, Churchville (Level Building only), Forest Hill, and Emmorton are without power. All others have power and are open. Harford County has set up an emergency services information line at 410-838-5800.

There are 40 roads closed and 61 roads partially blocked as of noon, according to county, state and municipal officials and readers:

• 1300 Stockton Road
• 2600 Cullum Road
• 3400 block James Run Road
• 3400 James Run Road
• 3700 Hilltop Drive
• 500 Robinhood Road
• Atkisson Road near Singer Road
• Country Club Rd & Manor Circle
• Old Stepney Road
• Otter Point Road
• Poole Road
• Ring Factory Road near one-lane bridge
• Robin Hood Road
• Robin Hood Road near Sherwood Lane
• Singer Road (Clayton at MD 152)
• Stockton Road at Atkinson Road
• Stockton Road between Clayton and Mountain roads
• Tollgate Road behind Harford Mall
• Wheel Road between MD 543 and Schucks Road
• Whitaker Mill and Old Joppa
• 1200 Stafford Road
• 1300 Quaker Church Road
• 2900 Grier Nursery
• 3800 W. Chapel Road
• 4000 Sandy Hook Road
• Delp Road
• Gibson Road - two trees down at MD 543 and Sandy Hook
• Gravel Hill Road
• Macton and Davis
• Silver Road
• 1400 Knopp Road
• 2200 Jerrys Road
• 3100 Rocks Chrome Hill Road
• 3600 Anderson Lane
• Jerrys Road
• Old York Road
• Salem Church Road and Green Hill Drive
• US 40 between MD 715 to MD 543 – wires down, detours in place
• US 40 at West Bel Air – signal out, through traffic allowed, right turn only from West Bel Air Avenue and APG
• Law Street between West Bel Air Avenue and Custis – wires down in roadway, no through access
• Edmond Street between Warren and Washington – wires down in roadway, no through access
• Bowling Alley to Walker Street – wires down in roadway, no through access
• MD 155 at McCommons Road
• MD 165 at Fawn Grove Road
• US 40 at MD 7
• MD 22 at Prospect Mill Road
• MD 161 south at Springhill Drive (northbound is open)

Do you see other closures? Tell us in the comments or on Facebook!

The National Weather Service issued a special weather statement Saturday morning indicating that while winds have died down, drivers and pedestrians should use caution; loosened objects like tree limbs or other debris may topple over. Wind gusts of 40 to 45 may persist until the early afternoon, so additional power outages are possible.

SEE ALSO:

• Harford County Opens Emergency Shelter, Warming Center
• Two Tractor Trailers Flip On Tydings Bridge In High Winds
• Hatem Bridge Reopens After Tree Falls Across Road

Photos courtesy of the Aberdeen Police Department.