Most of Harford County showed signs of having returned to normal Tuesday afternoon, following three days of dealing with problems caused by Hurricane Irene's sweep through the area between Saturday evening and Sunday morning.
With some exceptions, power had been restored to homes and businesses across the county. Roads that were closed by fallen trees were gradually being reopened, and most major intersections had their traffic lights functioning.
A county government spokesman said 22 roads were still closed as of Tuesday because of downed trees or limbs and power lines.
The overall situation with power – and what depends on it – was a far cry from Sunday and Monday when the majority of Harford County residences and businesses lost electric service at some point after Irene hit Maryland.
There were some people still in the dark Tuesday afternoon; however, the outage situation had improved drastically since Sunday when more than 50,000 homes and businesses were without electricity at one time or another, with many losing power as others were having it restored.
Out of 100,987 BGE customers in Harford County, most lost power at some point during the storm, according to statistics on the company's website that were also confirmed by a company spokesperson.
As of 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, 16,300 BGE customers remained without power, and the number who were out had been dropping throughout the day.
Delmarva Power serves about 5,111 customers in northern Harford County. Out of that number, most lost power during the storm.
"Almost 95 percent of our customers in Harford lost power at some point due to Irene," Bridget Shelton, Delmarva Power spokeswoman, said Tuesday.
As of noon Tuesday, about 525 Harford County Delmarva customers remained without power.
"The vast majority will be back in by midnight Wednesday," Shelton said.
She explained the very last outages should be restored by noon Thursday. BGE estimates most of their customers should have power by Friday, but the estimate serves the entire state, not just Harford County.
Rain and wind, no storm surge
Irene dumped about 5 inches of rain across the county with Havre de Grace, Kingsville and Darlington all getting measured rainfall between 4.80 inches and 5.23 inches, according to the National Weather Service, or NWS.
The highest documented wind gust in Harford was measured at 52 miles per hour in Norrisville. Similarly, winds reached 50 miles per hour in Edgewood, 49 in Bel Air, 45 in Joppa, 44 in Darlington, 42 in Fallston and 41 in Whiteford, according to NWS.
While tornadoes were present in Delaware, no twisters hit the state of Maryland, including Harford County.
Aside from the usual low lying areas that typically experience high water during heavy rains, there was no major flooding reported across the county.
And, unlike what happened following Hurricane Isabel in September 2003, there was no destructive tidal storm surge. The Havre de Grace Promenade, which was all but destroyed by Isabel, withstood Irene unscathed.
Government offices open
Business was pretty much as usual Tuesday for Harford County government and at Bel Air, Aberdeen and Havre de Grace city and town halls.
After being closed Monday because of power problems, offices for Harford County government opened at 10 a.m. with liberal leave in effect.
Bel Air Town Hall was up and running Tuesday, though there were issues with receiving and sending e-mail through its service provider Comcast.
The town government had no Internet service Tuesday, Administration Director Joyce Oliver said; however, a town commissioners' work session went on as scheduled Tuesday evening.
The Bel Air Department of Public Works as well as the Bel Air Reckord Armory were also functional.
Havre de Grace and Aberdeen town halls were back to normal, too, with no apparent issues, officials in both cities said.
Circuit and District courts in Bel Air reopened Tuesday after being closed Monday.
Harford County Public Library also re-opened Tuesday, stating on its website, "Please pardon any delay you experience with your account. We are catching up from the aftermath of Irene."
Getting rid of tree limbs, other yard waste
The county continued to urge residents not to burn their debris in their backyards.
Three drop-off sites have been set up temporarily where residents can take tree limbs and other storm debris.
The sites are: the Edgewood Recreation Park parking lot, 1702 Trimble Road in Edgewood; the Aberdeen Department of Public Works Maintenance Shop parking lot, Michael Lane in Aberdeen; and the Havre de Grace Community Center parking lot, 100 Lazaret Lane in Havre de Grace.
During a press briefing about debris disposal Monday, County Executive David Craig noted the sites will only accept tree limbs, "not sofas or mattresses, those kinds of things."
The temporary sites will be open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Tuesday through Monday, Sept. 5.
The Harford Waste Disposal Center yard waste facility will also be open to the public from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Saturday. It will accept residential and commercial loads.
The Tollgate yard trim drop-off site off Tollgate Road in Bel Air will be open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday through Friday, and from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday to Monday. Only residential loads are accepted.
Open burning in Harford County is prohibited without a burning permit from the Harford County Health Department, which cannot be obtained unless certain requirements are met.
"Permits are limited to brush - vegetative debris - and any continuation of open burning without a permit is in violation of Maryland and Harford County code. Permits must be applied for at least 72 hours prior to the date of anticipated use," Kevin Barnaba, director of environmental health for the health department, said in a press release.
Any open burning is prohibited in town or city limits, subdivision housing developments or other densely populated areas. All burning must be done at least 500 yards from occupied structures or heavily traveled roads, according to health department officials.