70,000 without power

As of early this afternoon, the county had opened Annapolis High for those in need.

“We expect temperatures to drop significantly and the strong winds approaching could create more power outages,” spokesman Pam Jordan said.

“If people are not able to stay with friends or family we encourage them to use the shelter where they will have a warm place to sleep and get a hot meal.”

She stressed it is particularly important for vulnerable populations like the elderly and small children to make use of the facility.

She added that the Red Cross and the county departments of health and social services will be on hand to welcome and assist visitors.

Ice-coated limbs and power lines tumbled all morning, leaving up to 70,000 people in the dark with no heat. And that’s before this afternoon’s 40 mph wind gusts got here.

The icy conditions won’t get better any time soon as temperatures are set to plummet into the teens tonight and stay below freezing until Saturday.

As for opening Annapolis High as a shelter, Ms. Jordan said it was chosen for its location.

“The school is in the center of the majority of power outages stretching from Severna Park to south county,” she said.

Anne Arundel and Queen Anne’s county schools remained closed after shutting down early yesterday, when a deteriorating forecast and dropping temperatures also drove local governments to close shop early and community organizations to cancel activities.

City and county offices closed today as well.

Local and state road crews were busy all night trying to stay ahead of the icy conditions after kicking in de-icing efforts yesterday morning.

The main thoroughfares were in pretty good shape once drivers made it out of neighborhoods where slick conditions were more problematic.

But the bigger hazards were downed trees and power lines.

As the morning went on, more trees fell, blocking roads and snapping power lines. Close to 24,000 Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. customers were without power at 6:45 a.m., but by just after 9 a.m. it was more than 60,000. Linda Foy, a BGE spokesman, said more than 500 employees were working on restoring power in the region. She said outage numbers were expected to get worse before they go down. With its own resources stretched, BGE was asking for assistance from other utilities.

Route 2 in Arnold was closed when a tree fell on a Buick just south of Arnold Road. Cars were detoured to College Parkway.
Mountain Road was closed by a downed tree keeping Gibson Island residents and others stranded. The sound of limbs snapping broke the morning silence in Annapolis.

In the heart of downtown, one tree’s branches touched the road on the inner part of Church Circle at Northwest Street, forcing officials to close that portion of the circle. The State House remained open, although the front steps were cordoned off by yellow tape.

Elsewhere in the city, people chiseled ice off their cars before heading to work.

Bill Birmingham, who lives off Georgetown Road, said he didn’t expect it would be this bad.

“When the ice is this much, you just have to go with it,” he said as he scraped ice off his windshield.

Nita White nervously made her way down her front ramp off Bay Ridge Avenue. Just coming off knee surgery, she tip-toed to her front lawn as she waited for a co-worker to pick her up.

The shopping center at the entrance to Cape St. Claire was without power. But the True Value store remained open.

Store clerk Ty Lewandowski started his day shoveling his sidewalk. He expected a run on shovels, batteries and other essentials.

The store planned on taking credit card payments by hand. It helped, Mr. Lewandowski said, that store employees knew most of the customers coming in.

The storm ruined Tom Smith’s Valentine’s Day plans. His annual tradition is buying his wife flowers and balloons. Instead, Mr. Smith had to deal with a limb that busted the passenger side mirror of his brand-new pickup.

“My wife told me 40 minutes ago ‘Do you think we ought to move our cars to Broadneck High School, where there aren’t any trees?’ ” he said.

He told her not to worry about it. Now he has to get a new mirror.

“That might be the Valentine’s Day present,” he said with a laugh.

The Maryland Emergency Management Agency planned to remain at heightened alert levels throughout the day ready to provide state assistance if requested by local emergency management agencies.

“With more than 100,000 power outages statewide and colder weather forecast, local jurisdictions may need to open shelters or warming centers,” said John W. Droneburg, director of MEMA. “The state and the Maryland National Guard are ready to help if help is needed.”

What was gearing up to be a classic snowy, Mid-Atlantic winter storm changed with every forecast cycle. The National Weather

Service finally settled on a forecast calling for up to a half-inch of ice by the time the winter storm passed on late this morning.

After a dusting of snow and sleet early yesterday the bulk of the precipitation held off, returning as sleet late in the afternoon then freezing rain later in the evening. By then state and county road crews had been out ahead of the bulk of the storm.

The preferred brew was brine — salted water with a freezing point of minus 6 degrees. Magnesium chloride was the second most effective tool in the road-treatment arsenal. The county put public works road crews on 12-hour shifts at midnight yesterday.

“We will keep them on as long as needed,” Ms. Jordan said.

The county had some 125 trucks to plow roads and spread some of its 11,000 tons of salt. State road officials were all set, too.

“We are prepared and poised to battle whatever weather Mother Nature brings us,” spokesman Lora Rakowski said last night.

Annapolis City offices were closed, which was appropriate since they were out of power along with most of Eastport and other parts of the city.

“We have everybody out in full force,” city spokesman Ray Weaver said this morning. “Besides salting operations we have yard and waste guys out removing trees.”

He said two pumping stations were running on backup power due to the outages.

Queen Anne’s County crews were out during the night spreading salt and were out again this morning, County Administrator Paul

Comfort said. Schools closed there and county offices opened two hours late.

Dulles International and Reagan National airports were closed for a time this morning, BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport spokesman Ryan Nawrocki said.

“We are fully operational, but we urge passengers to contact their airlines for delays and cancellations,” he said.

There have been some flights canceled due to problems at other airports that got more of a winter wallop. BWI was accepting diversions from other airports, which also could affect flight times, Mr. Nawrocki said.

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pfurgurson@capitalgazette.com
Staff Writers Jeff Horseman and Eric Hartley contributed to this story.