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Utility crews worked through the night to make repairs as whipping winds and stormy weather brought down power lines and felled trees, leaving thousands in the dark.
In its latest update, the Maryland Department of Management was reporting 19,765 outages throughout the state at 10:45 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 23.
Baltimore Gas & Electric was reporting 201 active outages impacting 7,640 of its 1.3 million customers, with more than 1,000 customers affected in Baltimore County (2,850), Baltimore City (1,379), Montgomery (1,196), and Carroll (795).
Pepco was responding to 85 outages that were affecting 7,009 of the company’s 891,979 customers, with the bulk reported in Montgomery (4,321).
Potomac Edison was also reporting 4,285 residents who were still feeling the effects of the storm, and SMECO was responding to reported outages impacting St. Mary’s (4,434), Calvert (1,292), Charles (638), and Prince George’s (245) county customers.
No timeline has been provided for complete restoration.
Maryland can expect to see continued winds on Friday afternoon, with early rain before the sun comes out in the afternoon, according to the National Weather Service. Winds are expected to sit between 20 mph and 30 mph with gusts reaching 40 mph.
On Friday night, temperatures are forecast to plummet to near single digits with winds still whipping upwards of 25 mph with stronger gusts.
A Wind Chill, Gale Warning, Wind Advisory, Small Craft Advisory, and Heavy Freezing Spray Advisory have all been issued by the National Weather Service.
“At 9:30 a.m., an Arctic cold front was passing across the metropolitan areas of Baltimore and Washington and the I-95 corridor,” according to weather officials. “Winds have shifted to the west and are gusting to 35 mph in many locations.
“The frigid arctic cold air is lagging behind the front by a couple of hours. Conditions will deteriorate rapidly with the increase in wind coupled with the decrease in temperatures.”
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