Thousands lose power in storms; Montgomery, Prince George's schools closed Thursday

Montgomery and Prince George's county schools will be closed Thursday and Pepco and BGE crews planned to work through the night Wednesday to restore power to thousands of residents and businesses after severe storms battered the area, causing massive traffic tie-ups and uprooting trees throughout the region.

Montgomery County Public Schools announced on its Web site that all schools will be closed on Thursday due to widespread power outages in school buildings caused by the storms. All administrative offices, however, will be open. Graduations for Blake, Whitman and Wheaton high schools will take place as scheduled.

Prince George's County Public Schools announced on its Web site that all schools will be closed Thursday, though all 12-month employees should report. All graduations remain as scheduled.

The first storm to hit the area at about 3 p.m. produced the strongest and longest sustaining winds since Hurricane Isabel struck in 2003. That storm had sustained winds of 60 mph, said Weatherbug Chief Meteorologist Mark Hoekzema.

The hour-long storm stretched from Pennsylvania to Virginia, and produced sustained wind gusts of more than 50 mph, Hoekzema said. The strongest gust at 83 mph was reported in Germantown.

‘‘It plowed through the heart of the metro area,” he said of the afternoon storm.

More than 150,000 Pepco customers in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties and Washington, D.C., were without power as of 9 p.m., according to the utility company’s Web site.

Workers were assessing damage Wednesday afternoon and it was unknown when power would be restored, said Andre Francis, Pepco spokesman.

Baltimore Gas and Electric Company reported in a press release that it's hardest hit areas were Prince George's, Baltimore City, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert and Howard counties.

"In anticipation of today's fast moving storm, BGE began transitioning its employees from their day-to-day jobs to their storm assignments earlier this afternoon so that we would be ready to address outages as soon as they began showing on our system," said Stephen J. Woerner, senior vice president of gas and electric operations and planning for BGE, in the release Wednesday. "Currently field crews and storm center personnel are working aggressively to restore electric power to those customers affected by the storm as safely and as quickly as possible. We thank our customers in advance for their patience." As of 11 a.m. Thursday, BGE said there wwere approximately 2,000 customers without power in Bowie. Allegheny Power, which serves about 27,000 customers in the northwestern portion of Montgomery County, reported more than 3,300 of them without power as of 9 p.m., with Dickerson receiving the brunt of the outage.

Commuters found the evening ride home difficult with more than 200 intersections in Montgomery County without working traffic signals at the height of the storm, according to Esther Bowring, county spokeswoman. Just before 6 p.m. the number had decreased to 100 intersections with an additional 30 traffic signals flashing. Police were directing traffic at some intersections.

MARC train service was delayed for hours on the Brunswick Line, which runs from Union Station to Martinsburg, W.Va. Commuters were advised to take Metro to Rockville. Shuttle buses were being arranged, said Jo Greene, spokeswoman for the Maryland Transit Administration.

Donna Bigler , Montgomery County spokeswoman, said all county roads were open and transportation crews were on standby to clear debris and downed trees. The transportation department has also established a hotline for residents to report storm damage. Residents can call 240-777-6000 to report damage.

Tornados were reported in parts of Virginia and southern Maryland. About one-half inch to three-quarters of an inch of rain fell, Hoekzema said.

From 3:11 to 4:30 p.m., Montgomery County Police took nine calls for personal injury collisions and 11 calls for collisions causing property damage, said spokeswoman Lucille Baur. Patrol officers found 31 other collisions, she said, ant at least three house fires were reported.

As another line of storms moved through the area Wednesday night, Montgomery County Police and Fire and Rescue crews remained busy with weather-related calls.

Electricity was out along the retail centers on Shady Grove Road and at the county’s mail distribution center.

The storm deterred but didn’t stop Chevy Chase resident Kerry Brink and about 40 other people at Nordstrom Rack from getting their shopping done.

Brink felt a moment of fear, especially since she hadn’t heard weather alerts earlier in the day, she said.

‘‘It feels like it came out of nowhere,” she said. ‘‘When I walked in, it was a totally clear day.”

At the Best Buy next door, Manager Armando Alvarez, who was coming out of the store with a flashlight, said that total damage could not be assessed until the power was restored.

‘‘We’ll have to wait and see,” he said. ‘‘But I’d bet that there’ll probably be a couple TVs that were completely wiped out from the power surge.”