After The Storm: Montgomery Co. Asks Residents For Damage Reports

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD — Montgomery County is seeking information from residents about property damage that occurred during Friday's wind storm. The aftermath of Friday's nor'easter left toppled trees, downed power lines and high wind warnings on the state's major bridges. Wind gusts that reached more than 60 mph tore down dozens of trees throughout the county, crashing into homes and cars and taking down power lines.

Firefighters responded to more than 600 incidents between midnight and noon, most of them weather-related, with some resulting in personal injury and others with significant property damage, said Pete Piringer, a county fire spokesman.

This week, the County is asking residents to submit property damage reports online. Completion of the form will assist the County in prioritizing areas with greater levels of damage for further investigation and provide the County and the State with information necessary to prepare a possible federal disaster declaration request.

The form asks for storm damage information such as: a general description of the damage, structure safety concerns and photos.

This is not a substitute for filing insurance claims, the County said. Completion of the form will not guarantee individual eligibility for federal, state or local reimbursement. If residents find damage that poses an imminent risk to life or safety, they should immediately dial 9-1-1, the County said. In addition, when photographing damage, residents should not put themselves in potentially dangerous situations including: climbing on debris, approaching downed wires or entering compromised structures.

Piringer said emergency crews responded to nearly 1,000 calls for service in a 24-hour period on Friday. Reported damage included about 90 trees on houses, over 250 wires down and almost 300 fire events.

In one incident at about 10:30 a.m. Friday in Kensington, a Park Police car caught fire when a tree fell and brought down live wires on the vehicle. The accident closed down Beach Drive at Knowles Avenue.

Also in Kensington, a 100-year-old woman was given a scare when a tree crashed into her bedroom early Friday. The woman suffered only minor injuries, although the impact left significant damage to her home.

See Also:

• High Winds Cause 80K Power Outages In Montgomery County
• Firefighters Rescue 100-Year-Old Woman After Tree Hits Home
  
• MD Nor'easter Cleanup: 29K Without Power, Wind Warning On Bridges
  
• Top MD Wind Gusts Town By Town For March 2 2018

In Bethesda, a mother and daughter narrowly escaped injury on Friday afternoon. As they drove past a large tree on Moorland Lane and Clarendon Road, it fell over and struck their RAV4, trapping them inside. The mother and daughter were able to extricate themselves from the SUV, Piringer said in a tweet.

Montgomery County saw a high of 69 mph winds in Gaithersburg Friday, according to the National Weather Service.

As of Monday, thousands of Pepco crews continued to maneuver around downed trees and debris to restore service to customers. Residents can report downed power lines and outages at 1-877-737-2662 or online here.

"While outages continue to decrease, much of the remaining work on the system is extremely labor intensive and time consuming," Baltimore Gas and Electric Company said Monday. "Once completed, these jobs are likely to restore service to smaller groups of customers at a time – in many cases only a single customer."

Photos around Montgomery County via Pete Piringer