BGE Crews Work To Restore Power To Thousands Of Marylanders
PARKVILLE, Md. (WJZ) -- More than 75,000 people are spending the Fourth of July without electricity or air conditioning. Widespread power outages continue, five days after a violent storm.
Some traffic lights are still out in Parkville. About 4,000 utility workers are now helping with the restoration effort. Large trees are still down throughout the state and patience is wearing thin. Some homeowners have canceled their holiday places because of the mess. The problems are made worse by this persistent heat. Children flocked to the Inner Harbor to cool off, as temperatures sit in the mid 90s.
Mike Hellgren has more.
BGE says they're focused on the smaller clusters of homes that have had complex problems. On Lake, we haven't seen any crews--just a tangled mass of wires and limbs. More than 7,500 power lines went down during the storm.
Day five and tens of thousands remain without power. Some are angry the trees that severely damaged lines weren't removed before the storm.
"People are tired of this. Our lights go out and we're out for three or four days because of these old trees," said Iris Singleton.
BGE is sending out crews in what they call pods, with experts in various skill sets. The utility still estimates it could be the weekend before everyone's electricity is restored.
"We're all here. We haven't left," said Tim Close.
If you doubt the power of those straight-line winds, there are roots with more than 20 feet across. That's just some of the damage that still needs to be cleaned up in Middle River. People say it's a miracle no one was injured or killed.
"We have to be very thankful and thank God that my daughter got in the house," said John Schreiber.
This Fourth of July, power there is finally back on, just in time for some of the hottest temperatures in the heat wave.
A lot of people are relieved to have power back, but there are still many neighborhoods still in the dark. More than 30,000 homes have no electricity in Baltimore County.
