Crime & Safety

Hurricane Irene Aftermath: Pepco Says Prince George's the Hardest Hit with Power Outages

The repair efforts will be a multi-day event, according to Pepco President Thomas Graham.

Update, 2:08 p.m.: Two hundred and twenty five more reports of power outages have appeared on the Pepco map, bringing the total to 11,971 for the Riverdale Park, College Park and Greenbelt area (zip codes 20737, 20740, 20742, 20770).

Update, 1:24 p.m.: More families and businesses are reporting power outages to Pepco. In the last 45 minutes, 39 additional reports of power outages appeared on the Pepco map for the Riverdale Park, College Park and Greenbelt areas (zip codes 20737, 20740, 20742, 20770).

Update, 10:52 a.m.: It's going to be a long effort to restore power to the more than 800,000 Maryland residents who have been affected by Hurricane Irene, Gov. Martin O'Malley said in an interview on "Meet the Press" Sunday morning.

Find out what's happening in Greenbeltwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The state is seeing a record number of families without power, O'Malley said.

To compare it to other natural events in recent memory, Snowmaggedon, the February 2010 blizzard that hit the D.C. Metro region, left 300,000 Maryland customers without power, O'Malley said.

Find out what's happening in Greenbeltwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The mayor of the city said that property owners, tenants, business owners and employees in Ocean City can return to town immediately, with proper identification. The town will open to the general public at noon.

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge has also been reopened to all vehicles beside tractor trailers, Anne Arundel County Emergency Management announced via Twitter.

Update, 8:32 a.m.: During a morning press conference, Pepco President Thomas Graham talked about the state of the power outages in the utility's coverage area.

Graham said he could not yet provide estimated restoration times for those out of power. Prince George's County was the hardest hit, especially near Woodyard Road. Pepco will reach them first, Graham said.

About 1,700 workers are in the field, but Graham cautioned that the repairs will be a multi-day event.

The University of Maryland reported in an alert at 8:16 a.m. that the storms have knocked out the campus fire alarm system. Any fire alarm calls should be directed to the University of Maryland Police Department at 301-405-3333.

Original post, 6:55 a.m.: An undetermined amount of diluted sewage is overflowing the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission's Western Treatment Plant because of overnight power outages, the WSSC said Sunday morning.

Generators are providing some power to the plant, at 6600 Crain Highway in Upper Marlboro, but it is not fully operational, the WSSC said. The WSSC provides drinking water and treats wastewater for Montgomery and Prince George's counties. 

In a release, WSSC said the Broad Creek Wastewater Pumping Station at 10315 Livingston Road in Fort Washington continues to fully operate on generators after losing power about 10 p.m. Saturday. The pumping station continues to overflow as a result of the excessive rain. It is unclear at this point how much diluted sewage is overflowing.

Power was restored to the Piscataway Wastewater Treatment Plant at 11 Farmington Road in Accokeek about 2 a.m. The facility lost power about 10 p.m. Saturday. An undetermined amount of diluted sewage overflowed while the plant was without power.

Notifications have been made to the Maryland Department of the Environment and the Prince George’s County Health Department. WSSC crews will post signs in the area once it is safe to be outside.

WSSC's two water filtration plants continue to operate.


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