Shortly after 4 p.m. today a quick severe thunderstorm cut across Southern Charles and Northern St. Mary’s counties, then continued a swath of destruction into Calvert County.
Volunteer firefighters and rescue squad members in Southern Maryland were spread thin for the following two-plus hours, running from one call to another for trees fallen on homes and vehicles, and power lines down causing fires and hazardous situations.
In St. Mary’s County, the brunt of the storm hit northern and western areas, including Wicomico Shores, Mechanicsville and Hollywood areas. Scattered trees and lines went down sporadically in the south-end of the county, with reports coming from Great Mills Road.
The Southern Maryland office of the Red Cross was contacted to help at least one family of four, in St. Mary’s County, whose home was badly damaged from fallen trees. The Red Cross was called to assist at least one homeowner in Calvert County as well, whose home was too damaged to stay in.
At approximately 4:25 p.m. the county’s computer-aided dispatch system went down, forcing police and dispatchers to quickly start writing down the flood of calls coming in. St. Mary’s county dispatch center also reportedly had portions of its telephone service knocked out.
Power was reportedly out in Sandgates neighborhood in Hollywood, among other areas that lost power and telephone. At about 5:30 p.m. a traffic light was reported out at Maypole and Point Lookout roads.
Just before 6 p.m. several people called 911 to report an explosion in the vicinity of Mechanicsville Road. At this time, police also were continuing to have trouble with their mobile dispatch computers as well.
In southern sections of St. Mary’s the storm caused relatively little wind or rain.
Bay District Volunteers and Lexington Park Volunteer Rescue Squad members were kept busy nonetheless with a storm of bad driving, in the form of numerous vehicle crashes throughout the afternoon.
See the slideshow below for scenes from some of the afternoon’s crashes.
There was a three-vehicle crash on Chancellor’s Run Road near the park at 4:30 p.m. that sent at least one driver to the hospital. About 20 minutes later there was another collision on Chancellor’s Run, near Pegg Road.
Near 5 p.m., apparently an electric transformer exploded on Great Mills Road near Roses Place, causing a big cloud of black smoke and knocking out the Shangri-La Drive traffic light.
SMECO utility crews and Verizon telephone workers are back logged with calls.
The Bay Net welcomes reader-submitted storm photos, and we will post any received in a news slideshow.