Showing posts with label power outage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label power outage. Show all posts

Friday, December 23, 2022

Frosty Siberian winds lead to falling trees, power outages across Montgomery County and D.C. area

Darkened apartments along
Georgia Avenue near Wheaton Friday night

It's been a "wild and wooly" day across the Washington, D.C. region and much of the nation, to use the words of the telephone meteorologist of old. Gusty winds that have blown from Siberia and down through Canada joined with a bomb cyclone winter weather event to start Friday with a blast of ice. The winds have stuck around through the evening, leading to many falling limbs and trees, and the resulting power outages.


There are currently 8,459 Pepco customers without power in the D.C. Metro area. Outages are widespread over the entire map of Montgomery County. The most concentrated outages are in the Silver Spring, Wheaton, Calverton, Gaithersburg and Germantown areas. In Rockville, there are significant outages in the King Farm, Twinbrook, West End and College Gardens neighborhoods. Bethesda residents are in the dark in a couple of spots along the Bradley Boulevard corridor, and in Westgate near the D.C. line. Over the border, there are outages in the Palisades and Wesley Heights in Northwest Washington.

The current temperature is 11 degrees. Winds are gusting at 18 MPH, and a wind chill advisory is in effect until 10:00 AM Saturday morning. Be sure to fully cover up if you have to go outside to avoid frostbite. Remember that dark intersections during power outages are to be treated as a four-way stop - but proceed with caution, as many drivers ignore this and will steam through the intersection anyway, or rear-end you if you conscientiously try to stop as the law requires. The best advice is to stay off the roads if you can.

Sunday, November 27, 2022

Massive power outage across Montgomery County - UPDATE: Gaithersburg plane crash victims rescued



UPDATE - 12:48 AM, November 28: Both occupants of the plane have been successfully rescued, and are on the ground, Montgomery County Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Earl Stoddard said. They are being transported to local hospitals with serious injuries, Fire Chief Goldstein announced, a change from earlier announcements that there were no injuries. 

UPDATE - 12:25 AM, November 28: Pepco reports tremendous progress in power restoration, with only 1,297 customers remaining without power at this moment. Utility workers are using a bucket truck to ground the Pepco tower and transmission lines so that the rescue effort can finally get underway sometime this morning.

UPDATE - 11:50 PM: Pepco claims to have restored power to over 60% of customers affected by the power outage over the last hour. It reports there are now 34,688 customers still without electricity.

UPDATE - 11:30 PM: Montgomery County Public Schools will be closed Monday, November 28, 2022, due to the power outage. MCPS offices will also be closed Monday.

UPDATE - 10:01 PM: Maryland State police have identified the pilot of the plane as Patrick Merkle, 65, of Washington, D.C., and the passenger as Jan Williams, 66, of Louisiana. Both are still on-board awaiting rescue, and are reportedly not injured.  Their aircraft is a Mooney Mike 20P single engine plane. Pepco reports more customers are without power than ever tonight, with 113,081 now in the dark at this hour. Montgomery County Public Schools says it will make an announcement about potential school closures later tonight.

UPDATE - 9:05 PM: Montgomery County Fire Chief Scott Goldstein reports that Pepco crews have to manually climb up to ensure the tower is grounded. The plane must then be secured to the tower. A large crane from Digging and Rigging in Clarksburg has been brought in. Additional personnel resources are due to arrive on-scene at 9:30 PM. "One of our concerns is the safety of the occupants in the airplane, the safety of our fire and rescue personnel," Goldstein said. Goldstein confirmed there are two occupants in the plane. "I have no information, I'm not here to talk about power outages," he said. 

UPDATE - 8:55 PM: A Rockville resident near the Rockville Civic Center park reports their power has just been restored. However, the total number of Pepco customers without power has now climbed back to 76,160.

UPDATE - 8:34 PM: Occupants of the plane that crashed into the Pepco tower have not yet been rescued. The number of Pepco customers without power in Montgomery County has dropped from 80,922 to 75,672.

UPDATE - 6:03 PM: Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services spokesperson Pete Piringer reports that the power outage has been caused by a plane crash in the Montgomery Village/Gaithersburg area. The plane is stuck in a Pepco tower and power lines, Piringer said. Passengers on board are so far reported to be uninjured.

Pepco customers across Montgomery County are in the dark, after what appears to be a massive system failure. 78,944 customers are currently without power, according to the utility's outage map. In fact, over 20,000 more customers lost power just since I began typing this article. There is no violent weather in the area. 

Virtually all of the outages are in the central and eastern part of the county, but residents in several areas of Bethesda report that their lights flashed multiple times, power fluctuations that can damage appliances and devices. Few of the outages are west of I-270, in Rockville and Germantown. Some of the biggest outages are in Derwood, Aspen Hill, Olney and Wheaton. There are currently a couple of smaller outages in Bethesda - one in the Woodmont Triangle area, and another near the D.C.-Maryland border.

The outage follows a Thanksgiving on which power outages also occurred across the D.C. area. Stay tuned for further updates on the cause of the power outages.

Saturday, July 2, 2022

Power outages across Rockville after early evening storm


About 3500 residents in Rockville and Derwood are without power this evening, after a thunderstorm passed through Montgomery County. The storm appeared to follow a northeasterly path through Potomac and Rockville. Pepco's estimated time for restoration of power is 12:00 AM July 3 for most of the outages. The utility is more optimistic about the outage near Wootton High School, where it expects power to be restored by 9:00 PM tonight.

Friday, February 18, 2022

Wind gusts cause power outages in Rockville this morning


Gusty winds are bringing down trees and power lines, and causing power outages this morning in Montgomery County. There are currently three outages in the Westbard area, with a crew assigned to the largest of the three, which impacts 43 Pepco customers. 

Small outages currently affect about 5 customers each in the Chevy Chase/Martin's Additions area, the area between Tilden Lane and Montrose Parkway, the area near the Target on Bou Avenue, an area south of Bells Mill Road off of Gainsborough Road, customers along Falls Road near Potomac Village and the Bullis School, and East Rockville just east of the CSX/Metro tracks.


Major outages are found further north along I-270. 710 customers are in the dark along the Watkins Mill Road corridor between MD 355 and Montgomery Village. 98 customers are impacted by an outage between Scenery Drive and Middlebrook Road east of MD 355 in Germantown. A small outage near Kingsview Middle School in Germantown currently affects 5 customers.

Expect more outages, with wind gusts between 20 and 50 MPH until late morning. Watch for downed trees, falling limbs and live power lines they may hit and displace. Bring in all unsecured objects that might blow away from yards or balconies.

Wednesday, September 1, 2021

Rockville experiences heavy lightning, some serious flooding in overnight storm


UPDATE - September 1, 2021 at 12:19 PM: Montgomery County police are now asking that any residents of the Rock Creek Woods apartments who left the complex please call them at 301-279-8000, so that they can be accounted for

11:52 AM: Officials have announced that one person has died, and a second is missing in the flooding at Rock Creek Woods apartments on Twinbrook Parkway this morning

A storm that passed through Montgomery County around 3:30 this morning had Rockville in its direct path. Residents unlucky enough to be out on the roads encountered flooding and high water, including along Rockville Pike. 

A resident of Congressional Towers reported water in his apartment as high as seats of the chairs in the room, and said he and others were rescued from the building minutes later by the Rockville Fire Department. Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services spokesperson Pete Piringer said that residents of basement apartments in the 13200 block of Twinbrook Parkway had to be rescued, as well.

About 224 Pepco customers are without power right now in Rockville, particularly in the Twinbrook, King Farm and Rockshire areas.

Monday, June 14, 2021

Power outages in Rockville, Derwood


There are two small power outages in the Rockville area this morning. One is near the intersection of Edmonston Drive and Veirs Mill Road. The other is in Derwood, close to the intersection of Redland Road and Needwood Road. Pepco estimates power will be restored to customers in both outages by 1:00 PM this afternoon.

Thursday, February 18, 2021

Power outages in Rockville


The weather this morning has been dominated by ice, rather than the predicted heavy snow. That creates a greater chance of falling limbs and trees, and power outages. Currently, 18 Pepco customers in East Rockville are without power this morning, according to the Pepco outage map.

Monday, August 26, 2019

Partial power outage last night at Rockville Town Square

Power appeared to be out to several businesses on the west side of Gibbs Street early last night at Rockville Town Square. The businesses impacted were those between SunTrust Bank and Five Guys.


Monday, May 18, 2015

Storm causes power outages in Rockville

Over 1000 Pepco customers are currently without power in Rockville, after a violent thunderstorm passed through Montgomery County. The majority of outages are between I-270 and the Rockville Pike corridor, in the West End, Rockville Town Center, College Gardens, Woodley Gardens and Lincoln Park/East Rockville areas.

Pepco is projecting restoration for these areas in the 6:00-7:00 PM hour tonight.