Lexington Park, MD – Heavy rain that was a spinoff of a major storm clobbering parts of Florida and Georgia caused flooding plus downed trees and powerlines in the three lower Southern Maryland counties during the evening hours of Oct. 11. As a result of the flood conditions, the start of classes for public school students in Charles and St. Mary’s counties was delayed by two hours. St. Mary’s College of Maryland in St. Mary’s City was closed Friday, Oct. 12.
During the height of the rain and wind squalls, numerous roads in all three counties were closed. Shortly before 11 p.m. the Mechanicsville Volunteer Fire Department reported a tree was down on a vehicle in Helen on Chaptico Road at the intersection with Phillip Thomas Lane. Charles County Government reported Friday morning that roads that were closed due to flooding included Poplar Hill Road between St. Peter’s Church and Route 205, Glen Albin Road and Spring Hill and Billingsley Road at Dutton Bridge. Shortly before 10 a.m. a portion of Ripley Road was closed due to a downed tree. In Calvert County, flooded roads were reported in Prince Frederick and Owings. At 11 p.m. Thursday evening, the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office reported “a small mudslide” had blocked a portion of Lower Marlboro Road.
Friday morning at approximately 10:30 a.m. the St. Mary’s County Health Department and the St. Mary’s County Metropolitan Commission reported a “sanitary sewer overflow” at the Piney Point Wastewater Pumping Station. “The sanitary sewer overflow is a result of heavy rains from Tropical Storm Michael,” a county government press release stated.
While it wasn’t closed Thursday evening, police advised motorists bound for the Governor Thomas Johnson Bridge that high winds were making travel across the span risky.
Scattered power outages were reported by Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO). As of 1 p.m. there were nearly 60 outages affecting over 800 customers in lower St. Mary’s County. Over 350 SMECO customers were still without electricity in the Port Tobacco area Friday during the early afternoon.
There have been no reports of storm-related injuries in Southern Maryland.
Season weather conditions, with daytime highs in the 60s, are predicted for the weekend.
Contact Marty Madden at marty.madden@thebaynet.com