At least two people were killed in Maryland and another was hurt during Sunday's severe thunderstorms, which knocked down trees, caused a number of area road blockages and left tens of thousands without power Monday, according to authorities.
Maryland Natural Resources Police said 63-year-old Douglas Smith and another man were riding two personal watercraft Sunday evening a half-mile south of the Bay Bridge when the storm blew in. The men were unable to reach the shore at Sandy Point State Park and the second man was knocked off his craft.
Once he got back on the craft, the man saw Smith floating face-down in the water. The man picked up Smith and flagged down a tug boat.
Smith, of Annapolis, was pronounced dead at Anne Arundel Medical Center.
Later that evening, a reserve officer who has assisted police as a volunteer for 15 years, was injured as he directed traffic in the Anne Arundel County community of Arnold, an area that was particularly hard-hit by downed tree limbs and wires.
About 10:30 p.m., Josiah Elliott, 58, was directing traffic on Ritchie Highway, which was down to one lane in both directions at Moore Road as Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. was making repairs at a damaged utility pole, said police spokesman Justin Mulcahy. A northbound 2001 Ford F-350, operated by Bradley Sonczewski, 34, of Dundalk, was towing a boat, and the boat's canopy snagged a telephone cable from the utility pole, he said. The cable tore away and smacked Elliott, knocking him to the ground and causing him to hit his head on the ground, Mulcahy said. Fire and rescue workers took him to Anne Arundel Medical Center, where he was in critical condition, according to hospital officials.
At midday Monday, BGE reported that fewer than 19,000 and 9,000 customers did not have electricity in Anne Arundel and Prince George's counties, respectively. The company had restored electricity for more than 93,000 of the 112,000 customers that originally lost power. BGE had no specific estimate, but spokesman Rob Gould said it was likely that power would not be restored to all customers until late Tuesday. He said that BGE mobilized workers in anticipation of the storm, and that 500 employees were working to restore power.
"It was an extremely violent storm," he said. "We have whole trees down on our power lines."
Anne Arundel road crews took 104 calls of downed trees and branches between Sunday and noon Monday, said county spokesman Dave Abrams.
"The crews worked through the night dealing with trees and debris, clearing them from the roadways," he said.
The number of emergency calls to the Anne Arundel County Fire Department more than doubled from the usual 120 to 280 between 3 p.m. Sunday and 7 a.m. Monday. That included 127 reports of downed wires and trees, as well as wires ablaze in trees, said Division Chief Michael Cox.
"They were scattered throughout the county," he said.
One house, in the 7400 block of Race Road in the Jessup area, was fully engulfed in flames from a fire reported just after 9 p.m. Sunday, he said. The two occupants escaped.
The storm also set off 18 fire alarms in Anne Arundel; crews rescued people trapped in elevators in two locations, one of them at a nursing home in Millersville, Cox said.
Three people were killed elsewhere in the region, including 44-year-old Michelle Humanick of College Park. She died Sunday after a tree fell on the van she was driving, according to Prince George's County police. Humanick was traveling southbound on Rhode Island Avenue at Odessa Road when the tree fell. Her passenger, a 64-year-old woman, was taken to an area hospital.
Police in Manor Township, Pa., near Lancaster, said an unidentified woman was apparently electrocuted by a fallen power line in her back yard Sunday afternoon. Authorities said the 53-year-old woman was found within 10 feet of a fire sparked by the downed line. And in Loudoun County, Va., a 6-year-old boy died after a large section of a tree fell on him while he was walking with his family, authorities said.
Washington officials said there were more than 270 reports of fallen trees or very large limbs and parts of trees that caused damage.
Government buildings and schools were also affected by the power outages. Anne Arundel canceled summer school classes Monday due to lack of electricity, along with the District Court in Glen Burnie. Logan and Hawthorne elementary schools in Baltimore County were also closed for the day.
Anne Arundel did not officially open any "cooling centers," but officials reminded people seeking air conditioning that they can go to recreation and senior centers, libraries and firehouses.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.