BETHESDA STORM CENTER
SANDY UPDATE
Today will be a day of damage assessment in Bethesda, and the DC area. We've taken damage for sure, and it's too early to know just how much. But we can also be thankful that we clearly did not take the beating that New York City and New Jersey did.
Over the night, winds in Bethesda significantly decreased after 1:00 AM. Some forecasters are saying we could still have occasional gusts up to 50 MPH through the evening. In general, though, expect winds to peak in the high 20s today. We could get 4-5" more rain before Sandy moves on. And a crest is moving down the Potomac River from Harpers Ferry. That will cause flooding down here eventually, particularly tomorrow into Thursday. Other streams are likely to flood, and Little Falls Parkway remains closed between River Road and Massachusetts Avenue.
So far, Pepco has done a pretty good job. The primary outages reported were mostly in North Bethesda and the River Road/Wilson Lane area. Obviously, the risk of outages remains as trees can still fall.
Strosniders received a new shipment last night, including flashlights, lanterns, window covers, chainsaws, and the ever-elusive D batteries.
Scott Graham of the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue service said that MCFRS responded to 324 calls Monday, and another 47 calls since midnight.
The top wind gust reported in Montgomery County was 76 MPH in Laytonsville. By comparison, the top wind speed recorded anywhere in the U.S. last night was 120 MPH, in Mount Washington, NH.
Sandy was perhaps the best forecast storm in history. It followed the Euro model track almost exactly. It made landfall 5 miles south of Atlantic City. It also produced the predicted snow west of us: 17" so far in Davis, WV!
West Virginia and Western Maryland highways experienced whiteout conditions last night. Not surprising, given that Sandy was centered near Lancaster, PA at one point. According to the National Hurricane Center, Sandy remains "next door" in Pennsylvania this morning.
Finally, we have a lot to be thankful for here. In flooded Breezy Point/Rockaway Beach in NYC, over 50 structures burnt down when flooding prevented firefighters from reaching the area in great numbers. One resident said on Twitter that he and 100 other families are now homeless. At least part of the Rockaway Boardwalk was also destroyed. Once home to a famous amusement park, Rockaway remains home to several of Robert Moses' significant infrastructure projects. So it is definitely sad to hear of this tragedy in a great American community.
We're not done with Sandy yet, but the news from states north of us reminds us it could have been far worse.
Stay tuned here and on Twitter at @BethesdaRow for updates!
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