Maryland residents get electricity restored days after destructive storm knocked out power

BALTIMORE -- Michael Rice finally got his power back along with other neighbors on Greenspring Avenue in Baltimore near Druid Hill Park after 66 long, hot hours.

"When you don't have any power and can't do anything, it's a disgrace," Rice said. "It should have been on way before now."

The risk is high given his family's age and health conditions.

"I'm a diabetic. My wife is 80-some years old, and I've just got to deal with it," he said.

WJZ showed images of the broken power poles on our newscasts Wednesday. Crews were in the neighborhood early Thursday. 

"I feel like routinely we've been left behind, and I have to question why that is in this neighborhood," said Rice's neighbor Jen Karner. "I woke up to the sound of saws in the back, and I have never been so happy to be woken up before my alarm goes off in my life."

She told WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren that she made multiple calls to BGE, yet the utility company's employees repeatedly said they had no record of downed poles in her community. 

"There's a communication issue with BGE at some level where the people who are manning the phones, who are our contacts, aren't being given the accurate information," Karner said. "My frustration is not with the linemen who are working overtime and working really, really hard to get us all power back, it's with whoever isn't communicating with the residents so we can plan ahead for what to do. If I had known I wasn't going to have power until Thursday, I would have made a plan, but every single time I called, I got a different runaround."

Some remain without power in Maryland following the strong storms that hit many areas on Monday including Carroll and Harford Counties. 

As of 5pm Thursday, there were more than 3,000 customers without electricity and more than 400 outages. You can track the outages here: https://www.bge.com/outages/experiencing-an-outage/outage-map

BGE's president and CEO said in some difficult cases, customers may not get their electricity restored until the weekend. 

The Maryland Insurance Administration held a virtual disaster assistance event on Thursday and offered help to those having trouble filing claims.