Traffic Sparse, Perry Hall Residents Make Last-Minute Purchases

Traffic along Belair Road remained fairly sparse into Monday afternoon, as Hurricane Sandy brought heavy rain and wind into Perry Hall.

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While most of the community's grocery stores and gas stations remained open, many area shops, restaurants and banks appeared not to have opened on Monday morning. All Baltimore County schools were called off on Monday and Tuesday, as well as local private schools, including Perry Hall Christian School and St. Joseph School.

Vernon Tydings, Jr., who lives and works in Perry Hall, drove out to fill up his gas tank and pick up a prescription Monday morning. He said he stocked up on dry goods and other emergency supplies over the weekend.

"Once the electricity goes out, we're not going to be able to pump any gas," Tydings said. "I expect it to get pretty bad. I do expect power to be out in a lot of areas—hopefully not for too long."

Another Perry Hall resident, Helen O'Donnell, said she hadn't planned to go out, but decided to pick up some cooking ingredients from Safeway for her neighbor, a Baltimore City fireman.

"My neighbor is a city fireman and his wife does a lot of the cooking for the station. She needed something, and I decided to help out. They have extra people on duty because of the weather," O'Donnell said.

She added that she lives less than a mile away from the store—otherwise, she wouldn't have felt comfortable going out on the roads.

How is the storm impacting you? What's open and what's not? Tell us in the comments.