October 30, 2012|By Steve Kilar, The Baltimore Sun
The storm caused its first fatality in Maryland when 66-year-old Mai Ai Lam-Phan of Montgomery County was killed in a head-on collision Monday in Clarksburg. Noting witness reports that there was standing water on the roadway, the Maryland medical examiner said the accident would not have happened were it not for the hurricane, while Montgomery police were more cautious, stating only that the storm might have been a factor.
In Pasadena, Donald Charles Cannata, 74, was killed when the tree fell on his home in the 7700 block of Suitt Drive around 11 p.m., Anne Arundel County Police said.
Flooding, downed wires and fallen trees kept 23 roads closed in Anne Arundel County Tuesday afternoon. Several other were partially closed and officials urged motorists to stay home.
Dozens of roads were closed in Baltimore County because of flooding or downed wires or trees.
In Baltimore, no sewage overflows had been reported. The Jones Falls rise feet above its banks but began to recede Tuesday morning, even as rain continued to pour down.
Robert Judge, spokesman for Exelon Power, which operates the Conowingo hydroelectric dam on the lower Susquehanna, said the company would be opening up to four crest gates Tuesday afternoon and projected as many as ten may be opened later this week, far fewer than the 43 opened after Tropical Storm Lee drenched the region in September 2011.
Though much of the state was spared by the storm, the governor said some small towns were hit particularly hard. He said Havre de Grace — which was partially evacuated — and Crisfield suffered significant flooding.
"That's going to be a long haul," O'Malley said of restoring Crisfield. "Some people may not be able to return to their homes."
Baltimore Sun Media Group reporters Kevin Rector, Alison Knezevich, Luke Broadwater, Timothy B. Wheeler, Michael Dresser, Yvonne Wenger, Jessica Anderson, Erin Cox, Andrea F. Siegel, Candy Thomson, Julie Scharper, Chris Korman and Jamie Smith Hopkins contributed to this article. The Associated Press and Patuxent Publishing also contributed.
