Politics & Government
Storm Death Toll Hits 8
A fourth Marylander died from heat and a contractor was killed taking down limbs from a damaged tree, bringing the toll to eight, as Gov. Martin O'Malley stresses that it is still a dangerous situation for elderly citizens.
UPDATED 3:50 p.m. Tuesday: Maryland officials reported a fourth heat-related death and the death of contractor who was removing tree limbs, bringing Maryland’s total to eight deaths due to , Secretary of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Joshua Sharfstein reported.
The contractor died Monday in Garrett County while taking down limbs from a storm-damaged tree near Oakland, according to Ed McDonough, spokesman for the Maryland Emegency Management Agency (MEMA).
More are expected as crews restore power to the state, Sharfstein said.
Find out what's happening in Owings Mills-Reisterstownfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Gov. Martin O’Malley said the situation for senior citizens still without electricity and, therefore, air conditioning, is dire.
“We are still in a very dangerous part of this emergency,” O’Malley said at a Tuesday morning news conference at MEMA headquarters in Reisterstown.
Find out what's happening in Owings Mills-Reisterstownfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Power has been restored to approximately 75 percent of those who lost power, with 271,000 Maryland residents without power compared to , O’Malley said.
The number of crews working to restore power statewide since Monday afternoon has doubled to approximately 2,000 crews. There are 8,000 workers involved in power restoration efforts.
O’Malley said that as power gets restored, people should not assume that BGE and Pepco are aware of every area that doesn’t have power. He urged citizens to call Pepco at 877-737-2662 and BGE at 877-778-2222 to report remaining outages.
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