Outages Hit Montgomery County Especially Hard

By David Schultz

Bob O'Connell's home lost power Friday night at the first onset of snow. This morning, nearly a week later, it was finally restored.

"The temperature got down in the 30s inside our house in Kensington," he says, "so we're glad to get the power back finally."

O'Connell and his wife were able to stay with friends in Bethesda. Now that the storm is gone, he's shoveling their driveway as a thank-you gesture.

"Thanks to their hospitality," he says, "we've survived fine."

Montgomery County's power grid was hit hard the recent storms. Bob Hainey, a Pepco spokesperson, says that's because the storm tracked right through the county, dumping heavy, wet snow on its trees. The outages continued even after the storm passed.

This morning, the home in Bethesda where O'Connell stayed while his power was out also lost power.

"We had thought, 'well, we've weathered the worst of it,'" O'Connell recalls. "And then this morning when they'd gotten through the worst part and then they lost power, I thought 'ugh, another week.'"

But that didn't happen. Power was restored after a few hours. Tonight, O'Connell will return to a warm, fully functioning home.

Some of his neighbors will have to wait just a little bit longer.