Parts of Northern Baltimore & Carroll Counties face intense wind damage on Easter morning
BALTIMORE Co. — A quick, intense wind event rocked parts of Northern Baltimore County and Carroll County late Saturday night and early Sunday morning.
Tree limbs, debris, and downed wires covered multiple streets and driveways posing a challenge for neighbors planning to celebrate the Easter holiday.
"Not the holiday that everybody expected"
Alex Reichert owns Green Hill Landscaping and has lived in Parkton, Maryland in Northern Baltimore County for most of his life.
"These old pine trees behind me— they are at least 80 to 100 years old, and all the tops split off," explained Alex Reicher. "There's a whole tree at the end of the row that got uprooted completely and is laying on the ground."
Just before 11:00p Saturday night— Reichert said he could hear how strong the wind was getting outside of his bedroom window.
"I looked out of my bedroom— right there at the top in the corner— and I looked out the window and saw everything just fall down. And trees were exploding, limbs were flying," said Reichert.
Reichert told WJZ, he immediately took shelter in his basement and woke up the next morning to a tree limb hanging over his home.
"My equipment got smashed, and I don't know if the insurance will cover it, but we'll see," Reichert said. "Yeah, this is not the holiday that everybody expected."
"I was very lucky to be alive"
But less than 5 minutes from Reichert's home, there was more damage. A large tree left mangled in electric wires was toppled over Middletown Road blocking traffic in both directions.
A man, who did not want to be identified, said he was driving south on Middletown Road, said he ran into the fallen tree just before 5:00a Sunday morning.
"No cones or no flares, I went right through and pretty much took off almost the whole top of the car. I was very lucky to be alive," the man told WJZ.
Baltimore County firefighters were seen making their way around the fallen tree as they rushed to another emergency, a house fire in Freeland, MD.
Don Lawerence said he woke up early Sunday morning and his power was out, so he went to turn on his back-up generator. When the power went out again, he returned to the generator and saw flames spewing from it.
"You know the perfect storm is there, they've got trees down everywhere and said the fire departments had a hard time getting here, and I'm just watching this thing take off," said Lawrence
"The wind is just blowing the flame is like it's probably three or four feet, and it's licking the bottom of the bumper of my nice van, and it started rough and started burning that rubber and it just took off."
Lawrence told WJZ, his wife and dog Diesel were able to make it out of the home.
"We're safe. The dog is safe. Everybody is good," Lawrence said.
As for everyone else in Northern Baltimore County impacted by the sudden windstorm, they say they're grateful it wasn't worse.
"We're lucky. Everybody's alive and no one's hurt. You know that's really the main thing," said Reichert.
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