Hurricane Sandy Update

(Update 3:40): Pepco is warning that “tens or even hundreds of thousands of customers could could lose power during this potentially catastrophic event.”

The National Weather Service is expecting Hurricane Sandy to make landfall somewhere in the Mid-Atlantic early Monday with heavy rain, strong wind and the potential for downed trees and power lines across the region, including Montgomery County.

The Washington Post’s Capital Weather Gang laid out three scenarios for the storm: A worst case in which the storm makes landfall between Virginia Beach and Delaware, causing widespread power outages from sustained 45-60 mile per hour winds late Sunday night into Monday, landfall in South New Jersey that causes significant problems late Monday into Tuesday or landfall between North New Jersey and New England that causes scattered outages Monday into Tuesday.

This morning, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley declared a state of emergency. Metro outlined its plans to prepare for the storm, and encouraged riders to sign up for Metro Alerts for any information on delays or closures. State Highway Administration officials reminded drivers to treat non-functioning traffic lights as a four-way stop.

Pepco, which came under criticism for its response to June’s derecho, requested an additional 2,500 linemen, 400 tree trimmers and and 200 damage assessors, according to officials in a press conference this afternoon.

Those officials were also careful to point out this will be a “multi-day event.”

Montgomery County officials released tips yesterday for preparing for the storm, surviving it and dealing with the aftermath. The Montgomery County Police Department today urged parents and trick-or-treaters to take caution of fallen tree branches or coats of leaves if participating in Halloween festivities on Wednesday.

Stay up-to-date with weather conditions, power outages and other effects from the storm this weekend with BethesdaNow.com.

Flickr photo by afagen


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