Saturday, October 27, 2012
Hurricane Sandy slowed down overnight, but picked up speed again Saturday morning.
Sandy slowed to a tropical storm overnight, but an Air Force aircraft found hurricane-force winds again Saturday morning, according to the National Weather Service. Hurricane Sandy is a Category I hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph, according to NWS. The difference between Sandy and a tropical storm at this point is 2 mph, with 74 mph being the lowest speed that registers as Category I. In the face of Hurricane Sandy's northward movement, NWS has issued a flood watch for Prince George's and Montgomery counties, much of Maryland and the DC metro area starting late Sunday through Tuesday morning. Projections for Sandy show it making landfall late Monday between the Delmarva Peninsula and northern New Jersey, NWS says. The …
Thursday, October 25, 2012
How should you prepare for the hurricane?
As Hurricane Sandy lashed Cuba Thursday, weather forecasters predicted its effects could hit the DC metro region by Sunday. Power companies said they were gearing up for possible outages. The Category 2 hurricane has already killed one in Cuba and it could merge with a strong cold front in this area to create what The Washington Post's Jason Samenow called a potential "powerhouse." Sign up for the Bethesda Patch newsletter to get breaking news updates on the storm. Although the storm's path has not yet been confirmed, most predictions say it will travel up the southeast coast and make landfall in the mid-Atlantic. The Post's Capital Weather Gang is suggesting the storm may slam the mid-Atlantic starting Sunday. Pepco and Baltimore Gas and …
Friday, July 6, 2012
YouTube video song goes viral as musicians play in the dark.
A group of local musicians has gone “unplugged”—not by choice. Now the group's YouTube video song railing against Pepco, the major electricity utility in the Washington, DC, region, is going viral. The song has many obscene lyrics and a name that is unprintable here. (Think the Cee Lo Green hit that was edited for radio as “Forget You.”) The more printable lyrics include the chorus: “What the hell, you guys?/Stop telling us these lies/All we want at this point/ is air conditioning in our lives.” The less printable lines are a mix of angst, anguish and sing-song profanity that—after nearly a week without power for some in the region—likely strike a chord with the “powerless” in and around DC and Maryland. (Not to be upstaged by Pepco, BGE …
Six-day attendance lowest since 2008; but Tiger Woods drew one-day attendance record of 48,611 on Sunday, The Gazette reports.
Though the AT&T National saw low turnout last week following Friday’s violent storm, Sunday marked a one-day attendance record for the golf tournament, The Gazette reported. The storm prompted officials to ban spectators from the course Saturday, and the six-day attendance of 136,155 was the lowest since 2008, when Tiger Woods didn’t compete, according to The Gazette. Woods founded the tournament and the event benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation. Sunday, however, marked a single-day attendance record for the tournament, with 48,611 coming out to watch Woods finish atop the leader board, according to The Gazette. Local tourism officials predicted the tournament would offer a boost to the local economy, Patch reported last week. While …
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Nearly 12,000 remain in the dark in Bethesda, Glen Echo and Cabin John.
Pepco is reporting the highest number of remaining Montgomery County power outages are in Potomac and portions of Bethesda, according to the utility's online outage map. In Bethesda, Glen Echo and Cabin John Tuesday, nearly 12,000 homes remained in the dark and following Friday's violent storm. According to the map, the ZIP code with the most lingering outages is Potomac's 20854, with 6393 customers still in the dark. Following close behind is Bethesda's 20817 ZIP, with 6202 customers remaining out of power. Other portions of Bethesda fared better, with much of the downtown up and running soon after the storm. But outage numbers were still high Tuesday. About 2340 customers remained out of power in the 20812, 20816 and 20818 ZIP codes. …
Monday, July 2, 2012
Several Prince George's and Montgomery County residents share their power outage issues, storm stories and thoughts on Pepco.
Tell us in our poll and in comments how you think Pepco and BG&E performed after Friday night's storm.
In the aftermath of the snowstorm that hit Maryland in January of 2011, Pepco was slammed for poor response time and communication when around 172,000 Maryland residents were left without power for several days. When Hurricane Irene hit later that year, some thought Pepco had improved its techniques but criticized Baltimore Gas and Electric for its poor service. Now, many Maryland residents are facing outages that could last until Friday or beyond due to the violent storm June 29, according to Pepco officials. In 2011, the American Customer Satisfaction Index gave Pepco a rating of 54 out of 100, but this year, that rating climbed to 69. Is the increased rating deserved? Have you been satisfied with BG&E and Pepco's performance and …
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Crews are being brought in from Oklahoma and the Carolinas to assist in repairs, Pepco Region President Tom Graham said Sunday.
It may take more than a week to restore power across the region in the wake of Friday's violent storms, Pepco Region President Tom Graham told WTOP Sunday morning. "We're working as quickly and safely as we can for our customers, but it's hard work. … It's very labor intensive," Graham said in an on-air interview. According to Graham, Pepco's early efforts have been focused on assessment and repairing the supply lines that feed the utility's substations. "Now that those have been solidified—and those resources have really been behind the scenes, working on the property, restoring that service—now you'll see a greater presence in the community from those resources," Graham said. Graham also said that the utility was bringing in mutual …
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Friday night's powerful storm system caused severe damage to trees, utility lines, and buildings.
Friday night's powerful storm system caused severe damage to trees, utility poles, and more than a few buildings across the region. Patch headed out Saturday morning to survey the damage. Have your own photos of the damage left by Friday's storm? Post them here using the "Upload Photos and Videos" button above (login required).
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Power outages plague much of the area as Chevy Chase tries to recover from the snow storm.
Abandoned parked cars on busy streets, police directing traffic, trees branches and limbs scattered on slushy roads and yards, children toting sleds enjoying their day off and no electricity in many homes. This was the scene in Chevy Chase the day after the year’s first major snow storm. At 4 p.m. Thursday, 3,359 customers were without power in the Chevy Chase 20815 ZIP code, according to Pepco’s StormCenter outage map. However, customers without power in Chevy Chase peaked earlier Thursday with more than 7,000 customers. With 9,559 customers in the Chevy Chase ZIP code, that's 73 percent of the service area without power. According to an e-mail sent out at 2:43 p.m. to subscribers of the Town of Chevy Chase Town Crier, Pepco is reporting …
Bailey Henneberg
7:11 pm on Sunday, October 28, 2012
Good reminder Steve! more ›