Baltimore County residents in waterfront areas grapple with flooding, damage from winter storm
BALTIMORE -- Removing leftover flood waters from Tuesday's storm was the priority for a lot of people who live in Baltimore County.
Some homeowners saw as much as two feet of water on their properties, according to the Baltimore County Office of Emergency Management.
However, despite the mess, county officials say residents fared pretty well.
Jaime Morris' son spent most of Wednesday collecting boards that had been ripped off from the family's pier and the piers belonging to his neighbors, too.
Morris said that's where most of the damage happened. The water got to his yard, but by the time WJZ got to the location, it had receded.
He's counting his blessings.
"Everything was [about] charging your phones, charging every flashlight in the house, turn the heat up to make sure we have some warmth in case we lose power for a while," Morris said. "We got really lucky that we didn't, but it's always good to be prepared."
Some of Morris' neighbors are still dealing with water on their properties. One homeowner on Bay Drive close to Miami Beach Park told WJZ the water reached their basement, flooding it a bit.
Waterfront neighborhoods dealt with flooded streets overnight. Overall, the Baltimore County Department of Public Works and Transportation said 30 roads flooded out.
Around 50 trees also fell onto roadways.
Lowell Melser, chief public information officer for the Baltimore County's DPW, said the damage could've been a lot worse.
"If you're comparing this storm to what we see over the summer...we see much more damage," Melser said.
For the next couple of days, county crews will be doing assessments at peoples' homes and key infrastructure sites.
"Such as electrical areas, such as pumping stations that have seen damage," David Bycoffe, the county's director of emergency management, said. "We manage those through our individual stakeholder partners to get those back and running."
Some roads may still be closed because the county is waiting on BGE to clear up a downed power line.
Once that's done, county crews can go in and check out what else needs to be done to reopen.