Photo courtesy Pixabay

By Rachel Ravina, Staff Writer

(April 18, 2019) The electric department of Berlin kept busy early Monday morning after storms came through the area and knocked out power in several neighborhoods.

Electric Utility Director Tim Lawrence said about 600 customers were without power from 4:30-6:30 a.m.

“That [storm] was nasty,” said Councilman Troy Purnell of the early morning thunderstorm.

Lawrence told the Berlin mayor and council members of several electrical power-related issues as a result of the morning wind and rain.

Lawrence said he was initially contacted around 4:30 a.m. for the power outage, and he said he found “Circuit 220 totally out.”

Lawrence also told of instances involving tree limbs complicating the town’s “main feed from [the] substation.”

He said a tree also fell from a yard at the intersection of Germantown and Trappe roads, landed on top of a trailer and broke a service pole.

Additionally, Lawrence said workers were dispatched to Berlin Falls Park after a large tree snapped off and broke a light pole there.

He added that tree limbs fell on Flower Street as well.

Council member Dean Burrell expressed his appreciation to Lawrence and his department for their vigilance.

“Thank you for your work this morning. In all that wind and rain and whatever was going on out there, your guys met the challenge,” Burrell said. “And on behalf of the public and those folks that were out of electricity this morning, I just want to say thank you for your work.”

Top wind gusts reported at the NOAA station in Ocean City approached the 60 mph mark, as the line of storms pushed across the East Coast and out to sea.