Montgomery County Closed, Tens Of Thousands Remain Without Power

By Peter Granitz

Montgomery County schools and services are closed today. But the county executive says all necessary workers will continue clearing roads and helping those without power.

Tens of thousands of people in Montgomery County are still without heat and electricity. Pepco says it's working to get people's power back. The county is running three warming shelters for people to come and warm up.

County Executive Isiah Leggett says he may open more, but that depends on how cold it gets and how quickly Pepco restores service. Besides, he says, the roads are still too dangerous to ride on.

"One of the problems we have is not actually the shelters, but getting people to the shelters. In many of the residential communities people simply cannot get out and it's much more dangerous to have them navigate that rather than stay in place," says Leggett.

Snow is packed down on many roads in the Maryland suburbs. Montgomery County says it has eight-hundred vehicles cleaning the roads.