Maryland Mops Up

A quarter million Maryland residents remained without power Friday after Hurricane Floyd blew through the area and dumped as much as a foot of rain, spawning flash floods that inundated towns and carried away children.

Two girls in Delaware were killed Thursday when they were swept into a 1,500-foot long culvert. Hundreds had to be evacuated from rising floodwaters.

BGE said it would be days before power was restored to 360,000 customers who awoke without power Friday morning. A worst-case scenario predicted some would not have power until Tuesday.

"We're hoping by Sunday. That's an optimistic view," said BGE spokeswoman Brenda Pettigrew. This is an extraordinary event. It is extensive damage."

By 7 a.m., BGE said it had cut the number of customers without power to 257,000, down from a total of 490,000, and a peak of 365,000.

The hardest-hit areas were Anne Arundel County, where 62,000 still were without power; Baltimore County, which had 59,000 outages remaining; and Baltimore City, where 51,000 were without power. More than 1,000 utility workers were out making repairs Friday, including crews from utilities as far away as Illinois.

In the Maryland suburbs of Washington, there were 37,000 PEPCO customers without power.

Winds gusting as high as 80 mph uprooted trees and knocked down power lines throughout the region. In Ocean City, winds were strong enough to set a ferris wheel spinning.

Before leaving the Chesapeake region, the storm dumped about 12 inches of rain in Rock Hall, Md., and Greenwood, Del.

Many residents of the Cecil County towns of North East and Elkton spent the night in shelters or with friends and relatives after rains turned sluggish creeks into torrents.

About 100 families abandoned their homes in North East and may not be allowed to return until Friday evening, said North East Assistant Fire Chief Mike Miller. The North East Creek ate away at a chunk of a Route 272 bridge, closing the road in both directions.

The Big Elk Creek flooded Elkton and loosened four oil tanks in downtown from their supports and set them adrift in a containment dike. Several shopping centers nearby were also flooded. Cecil County firefighters rescued a 13-year-old boy from a tree as the 10-foot-deep Big Elk Creek rushed beneath him.

In Laurel, a 12-year-old boy was swept into a drainage ditch and carried about a half-mile before he was able to grab onto some grass. Firefighters rescued a 10-year-old Essex boy from a storm drain.

But rescuers failed to save Erica Robinson, 11, and Sarah Fisher, 12. The two playmates were killed in Red Lion, Del., when they were swept into a 1,500-foot culvert. Sarah's 8-year-old sister, Emily, managed to gasp for air as she passed through the pipe and pull herself to safety when she emerged.

Amtrak shut down service between Washington and Boston Thursday because of mudslides, water and downed trees limbs on th tracks. Passengers were stuck on trains for hours. Numerous flights were canceled out of Baltimore-Washington International Airport.

MARC trains will follow a holiday schedule Friday.

Schools remained closed Friday in Anne Arundel, Cecil, Harford, Kent, Prince George's, Queen Anne's and Ta6lbot counties.

Hurricane Floyd dumped as much as a foot of rain Thursday as it sprinted across Maryland, flooding streets and turning creeks into dangerous torrents.

TV helicopter cameras broadcast pictures of devastation in North East. Rushing water knocked down a two-lane bridge on a main thoroughfare through the town, which appeared to be on the verge of total collapse.

The storm passed about 20 miles off Ocean City at 2:30 p.m. By late afternoon, the rain had slowed or stopped in southern and central Maryland.