Outage Numbers Drop In Bethesda

Update, 9:10 a.m.: The lights appear to be coming back on in Bethesda. Pepco is reporting fewer than 800 customers out of power. Many eateries including Zen Tara Tea and Bethesda Bagels are open for business.

Update, Oct. 30, 7:20 a.m.: Outage numbers are dwindling in Bethesda, down to about 2,300 from about 3,500 reported at the height of the storm.

More than half of those out of power are in the 20817 zip, where 1,555 customers were reported out of power.

Update, 11:30 p.m.: Outages are surging in Bethesda as Sandy brings rain and high winds to Montgomery County.

The 20817 zip code is the hardest hit, with Pepco is reporting more than 2,500 out of power. Nearly 600 are out in the downtown Bethesda zip code of 20814, and nearly 400 are out in the West Bethesda, Cabin John and Glen Echo zip codes, 20812, 20816 and 20818.

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Original story, 5 p.m. More than 400 are without power in Bethesda, Cabin John, Glen Echo and Brookmont as of 4:30 Monday, according to a Pepco outage map.

That number has grown significantly since 2:15 p.m., when Patch first reported on county outages. Bethesda had seen minimal outages as of that time.

Rain and winds have picked up in the county as Hurricane Sandy heads towards the coast. The storm is set to make landfall in New Jersey this evening, packing maximum sustained winds of 90 mph.

Pepco has predicted that tens or hundreds of thousands could lose power across the region during the "potentially catastrophic" storm.

The western and central portions of Bethesda were apparently hardest hit with outages, with only about 30 customers reported without power in the downtown Bethesda zip code of 20814.