Carroll County’s fleet of trucks and snow plows were out in full force Monday.
As of 5 p.m Monday, approximately 5 inches of snow had fallen on much of Carroll County, with forecasters predicting another 2-4 inches of snow — and strong winds — over the next few days.
Jeremy Geiger, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, cautioned of high winds until mid-week, with gusts up to 25-30 mph that will pick up on Wednesday to upwards of 35 mph.
As of Monday afternoon, there had been three vehicle collisions including property damage and one with personal injury according to the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office. Just outside of Carroll, a collision before noon forced the closure of Md. 140 due to an accident in Woodleaf, between the Baltimore County line and the Interstate-795 exit ramp.
Carroll County Public Schools announced Monday night that schools would be closed on Tuesday.
Carroll County government, McDaniel and Carroll Community colleges were closed Monday because of the weather. CCPS was already scheduled to be closed because of the end of the second quarter marking period.
Carroll County officials encouraged residents to stay at home but also warned of possible power outages.
“As the wind picks up, especially with the freezing rain that we’ve had, we definitely do expect power outages to happen just from fallen trees,” said Jeff Castonguay, director of the county’s Public Works. “We have people on standby to block roads to keep, you know, keep the public safe.”
Castonguay encouraged residents to call BGE to help inform the energy provider of outages, saying the company relies on customers to narrow down the number of people out of service.
Matthew Rodriguez, the assistant manager of Emergency Management in Carroll County, said residents should sign up for Carroll Alert, the county’s mass notification system, for the most up-to-date information.
Rodriguez advises residents to keep their phones charged and keep a first-aid kid on hand in their cars.
“If you do need to leave your home if there is a power outage or anything like that, have your supplies in your car just in case you get stuck along the way. The roads can be kind of tedious,” said Rodriguez.
Castonguay said trucks had been out since 7 a.m. Sunday and will be out operating until tomorrow morning, with a total of 89 units being out on the road including two snow blowers.