The electrical storms made up for the weak showing here of Hurricane Bob, which caused little trouble on the Eastern Shore, but battered parts of New England.
BG&E, acting before last night's damaging weather, dispatched a convoy of 20 vehicles and 35 repair crew members to Worcester, Mass., to help restore power to 200,000 New England Electric customers affected by Bob.
Slusark said the crews came from the utility's southern districts, which were little affected by last night's storms. "We have cancelled plans to send crews from our Cockeysville district," he said. BG&E will decide tomorrow whether it can spare more crews to send to New England.
In Baltimore, burglar alarms set off by electrical malfunctions kept city police busy checking, and fire apparatus responded to several calls of lightning strikes and downed wires.
State Police at Westminster said electrical power was disrupted there around 8:30 p.m., forcing them to function with portable generators.
A section of Hollingsworth Road in Finksburg near Md. 91 was closed when a large tree was blown onto the roadway, police said. "We've got trees down all over the county," said a State Police dispatcher.
Westminster city police reported minor damage to trees and houses from gusting winds.
Michael Moser, a dispatcher for the Carroll County Central Alarm Office, said several houses were hit by lightning but that no injuries were reported. "At least two houses caught fire," he said, "while others suffered minor structural damage.
