Storms leave trail of felled trees, power outages across Maryland
BALTIMORE -- Thousands are without power and felled trees are complicating morning commutes after severe storms blew through central Maryland on Thursday evening.
As of 7 a.m. Friday, over 24,000 BGE customers are without power thanks to over 850 active outages. The company said it is working as safely and quickly as possible to restore power. Most of the affected people live in Baltimore County and Baltimore City.
The storms generated a tornadic waterspout that destroyed homes in part of Smith Island. The waterspout landed onshore and caused significant damage to the Somerset County community, according to Gov. Larry Hogan.
Stunning footage shared with WJZ shows the vortex tearing through the island.
Unbelievable video: Tornadic Waterspout slams Smith Island, MD on Thursday night & leaves behind significant damage.
— Rick Ritter (@RickRitterWJZ) August 5, 2022
We’ll see you on @WJZ at 11 when @DerekBeasleyWX will have much more on this.. pic.twitter.com/nvOoG2ib6S
The storms a mess in Baltimore, flooding some streets and felling large trees, particularly in northeast Baltimore. No injuries have been reported.
Northeast Baltimore saw two inches to four inches of rain, At least 65 trees had fallen down, 18 of which were found to be blocking roads, Mayor Brandon Scott said in a statement.
On Westfield Avenue, a tree crushed a car and pierced through the roof of a home. WJZ reporters Amy Kawata and Kelsey Kushner were on the scene.
Here’s a better look now at these massive uprooted trees on Westfield Avenue in Northeast Baltimore. A car is crushed under one tree.. and the other tree pierced through the roof of this home. @wjz pic.twitter.com/TAxxwfW32n
— Amy Kawata TV (@AmyKawata) August 5, 2022
Roofs destroyed by uprooted trees - neighbors say they’ve never seen anything like this before. Hail, Flooding, strong winds. @wjz pic.twitter.com/fU11T7WN9W
— Kelsey Kushner (@KelseyKushnerTV) August 4, 2022
On Harford Road, a busy throughway were flooding was reported, businesses were damaged and debris litters the street Friday morning.
A look a Harford Road in Northeast baltimore this morning. Tree limbs and debris scattered on the side streets.
— Amy Kawata TV (@AmyKawata) August 5, 2022
Some businesses are also damaged.@wjz pic.twitter.com/bboUHpBYfu
The storms spawned tornado and flood warnings across the state.
"This storm was another reminder of how smaller storms can turn into severe and damaging weather events," Gov. Hogan said Friday morning. "We continue to stand ready to assist the local response, and are now tracking a second storm system moving into our region this evening.
After the storms passed over Maryland, the governor announced the state's emergency management team was tracking the damage from the storms and coordinating with local jurisdictions.