Northeast Baltimore residents may be without electricity for several days after severe storm
BALTIMORE -- More than 10,000 Baltimore Gas and Electric customers who live inside of the city limits remained without power Friday following severe thunderstorms that swept through the area Thursday.
Hundreds of tree branches littered neighborhoods in the aftermath of strong winds.
Sometimes even whole trees were uprooted.
Some of them fell on homes. Some of them fell on cars. Many of them littered the sidewalks and streets as crews hurry to restore power.
"It's a good thing nobody was outside," Patricia Gossard of Pinewood Avenue said of the various debris.
The storm that swept through the city on Thursday came in fast and fierce, and it was accompanied by strong winds.
"I saw hail coming down," Alphonso Veney said. "I saw wind blowing."
Gossard said she watched the rain "blow this way and that way."
"This is the worst I've ever seen it," she said.
Veney said it was almost like a small tornado had touched down.
"Trees are down in the back. Power lines are down," he said. "There's nothing we can do."
On Friday afternoon, traffic lights were dark up and down Harford Road.
Oprah Martin, a letter carrier, had the day off BUT decided to spend the day checking on "her people."
For the most part, everyone seemed to be OK, she said.
Baltimore Gas and Electric said that 800 mutual aid workers would be joining its crews Friday to try to restore power—a process that could take several days in some areas.
"The next door neighbor said, 'Why'd it have to happen to us?'" Gossard said. "I said, 'To show everyone that we're a resilient neighborhood.'"