MEMA: Outage Numbers Similar To Isabel Power Losses

REISTERSTOWN, Md. (AP) — About a million Marylanders were without power shortly before the sun came up, similar to the number that lost power in 2003 when Tropical Storm Isabel hit the state.

Edward McDonough, a spokesman for the Maryland Emergency Management Agency, says every corner of Maryland got hit in Friday’s thunderstorm.

By midday, the power outages were down to about 800,000.

McDonough says one advantage power companies had in dealing with Isabel was a chance to prepare for a predicted hurricane. Crews were on standby from out of state. Even then, it took about a week for everyone to have power restored.

Because of the unexpected nature of this storm and its power, he says it will take “a few days, not a few hours, for people to get power back on.”

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)