HUGHESVILLE, Md. (February 15, 2007 NOON) - Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO) just reported that crews are still working to restore service to all customers who are without power as a result of Wednesday's storm. According to local weather reports, some areas of Southern Maryland were blanketed with as much as 3/4 of an inch of ice which brought down trees and power lines.
Damage from the winter storm is concentrated in the Charles-Prince George's region, where more than 3,500 customers were without power as of noon, Thursday, February 15. At that hour, approximately 450 customers in Calvert County were also without power. All storm-related outages in St. Mary's County have had electric service restored.
With nearly 22,000 customers affected by the storm, SMECO has restored power to more than 18,000 customer-members. According to SMECO, crews began making repairs early Wednesday morning, and additional crews were called in to assist. Ten crews of 65 crew members were called in from Pike Electrical contractors in North Carolina. An additional seven crews of 20 people from co-ops on the eastern shore and Delaware, who have also assisted with power restoration, bring the total to nearly 300 workers on site.
To report outages and downed power lines, customers may call 1-888-440-3311 or 1-877-747-6326. Customers may obtain updates from the Co-op's website at www.smeco.coop.