(Jan. 28, 2016) While last week’s nor’easter pounded northern areas of the state, including dropping more than 30 inches of snow in parts of Baltimore, inland Worcester County was largely spared.
Still, Berlin Public Works Director Jane Kreiter said the weekend was an eventful one, with workers putting in close to 200 hours to combat the storm.
Kreiter said Maryland State Highway figures listed Berlin as receiving four inches of snow on Friday evening, followed by two inches of rain Saturday afternoon, and another four-and-a-half inches of snow on Saturday evening and into Sunday.
“We were fighting snow, ice, flooding and more snow – and then more ice,” Kreiter said. “But we really did dodge a bullet [compared to] situations like Baltimore or New York.”
Public works staff removed just one downed tree in Berlin.
“We were chasing a lot of trash cans around,” Kreiter said. “We were lucky.”
Berlin Electric Utilities Director Tim Lawrence said his staff fought to recover from two major power outages on Saturday. The first occurred at Decatur Farm, near Schooner Lane, at 4:30 a.m. when a tree fell across three lines. Town utility workers had power back on by 10 a.m.
Two hours later, the second outage occurred when a tree limb fell 20 feet from power lines near Branch Street and Route 113 and was swept by the wind into one of the overhead switches, shutting down the breaker. Lawrence said power was restored there by 1:09 p.m.
Berlin Police Chief Arnold Downing said preparation made all the difference.
“We also want to say thank you to the community, the ones who heeded the words and stayed off of the roadways, and the businesses that did go ahead and close and the churches that went ahead and thought about the safety of their patrons and their customers. I think it was a great partnership,” he said.
Downing said no major accidents occurred in Berlin over the weekend.
Ocean Pines also went largely unscathed during the storm. Teresa Travatello, head of public relations, said the community experienced some flooding and saw a handful of downed trees, but no major problems occurred.
Still, Berlin Public Works Director Jane Kreiter said the weekend was an eventful one, with workers putting in close to 200 hours to combat the storm.
Kreiter said Maryland State Highway figures listed Berlin as receiving four inches of snow on Friday evening, followed by two inches of rain Saturday afternoon, and another four-and-a-half inches of snow on Saturday evening and into Sunday.
“We were fighting snow, ice, flooding and more snow – and then more ice,” Kreiter said. “But we really did dodge a bullet [compared to] situations like Baltimore or New York.”
Public works staff removed just one downed tree in Berlin.
“We were chasing a lot of trash cans around,” Kreiter said. “We were lucky.”
Berlin Electric Utilities Director Tim Lawrence said his staff fought to recover from two major power outages on Saturday. The first occurred at Decatur Farm, near Schooner Lane, at 4:30 a.m. when a tree fell across three lines. Town utility workers had power back on by 10 a.m.
Two hours later, the second outage occurred when a tree limb fell 20 feet from power lines near Branch Street and Route 113 and was swept by the wind into one of the overhead switches, shutting down the breaker. Lawrence said power was restored there by 1:09 p.m.
Berlin Police Chief Arnold Downing said preparation made all the difference.
“We also want to say thank you to the community, the ones who heeded the words and stayed off of the roadways, and the businesses that did go ahead and close and the churches that went ahead and thought about the safety of their patrons and their customers. I think it was a great partnership,” he said.
Downing said no major accidents occurred in Berlin over the weekend.
Ocean Pines also went largely unscathed during the storm. Teresa Travatello, head of public relations, said the community experienced some flooding and saw a handful of downed trees, but no major problems occurred.