Storm

Berkeley County closed the storm shelter it opened in response to Superstorm Sandy at 11 a.m. Wednesday and county officials deactivated the county's emergency operations center as high water began to recede from low-lying areas in wake of the storm's passing. Stephen S. Allen, director of the county's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, said Wednesday he had received only a few reports of substantial storm damage. “We really have fared well,” Allen said.

Early damage assessments on Washington County showed relatively little damage to homes and infrastructure in Washington County, according to county officials who briefed U.S. Rep Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., on Wednesday. With no known injuries or deaths due to the storm that dumped rain and brought high winds to the region, Washington County will be sending two medic units to assist New Jersey, said Kevin Lewis, the county's director of Emergency Services. “There's going to be huge sums needed in New York and New Jersey,” Bartlett said of the federal money that will be needed to deal with the devastation in those states.

Bill Wolfensberger of Clear Spring was planning Wednesday to get large containers of water to use for flushing toilets and washing up. Wolfensberger, 60, of 13320 Gruber Road, had been without power since Monday night, courtesy of Superstorm Sandy. Although he has a generator, he still had no central heating or running water. Despite that, he said, “We were pretty much prepared,” for the storm. “Seventy years ago this is how people lived, and if you're prepared for it, you can live with it.” Temperatures remained below 50 degrees in the Hagerstown area Wednesday.

As Superstorm Sandy left the Tri-State area Tuesday, emergency services officials in Franklin County, Pa., are turning their attention to streams and creeks that have reached flood stage. The Conococheague Creek had flooded east of Philadelphia Avenue in Chambersburg, according to Dave Donohue, director of Franklin County Department of Emergency Services. “It's still over its banks in Greene Township,” he said at 3 p.m. “Borough waterways now appear to be reaching capacity, and the potential for flooding is very high,” Chambersburg Borough Manager Jeffrey Stonehill said, saying police and highway personnel will be monitoring the situation for possible evacuations.

The storm that blasted the East Coast this week has slightly altered the election process in Maryland. Two of Maryland's six days of early voting were canceled because of the bad weather. An extra day will be added on Friday, giving the public five days to vote early before the Nov. 6 general election. Also, early-voting centers will stay open three extra hours each day. In West Virginia, early voting was suspended, only for Tuesday, in six counties - including Jefferson and Morgan - because of the storm.

Closed storefronts and empty parking spaces were common sights in downtown Hagerstown late Tuesday morning, as the lingering effects of the storm that once was Hurricane Sandy moved through the area. With many offices in the area closed, popular lunch spots such as the Brickyard Grill on West Washington Street and The Plum, a restaurant on Rochester Place, also were closed at 11 a.m. A light but steady rain and temperatures that hovered in the low 40s did not help. The Columbia Bank on West Washington Street and the post office on West Franklin Street were open.

An electric utility company that helped local electrical crews deal with the damage from what had been Hurricane Sandy reported that copper wire was stolen off their trucks while they were parked near Railway Lane, according to a Washington County Sheriff's Office spokesman. Pike Electric had five trucks parked at the Ramada Plaza Sunday night, said Lt. Tom Newton. Pike Electric crews reported Monday morning that wire had been stolen from trucks parked at the motel, Newton said.

As the sun came up over Franklin County on Tuesday, residents started assessing damage, clearing debris and pumping basements. Friends Zach Miller and Daniel Foster, both 15, decided to look on the bright side of the aftereffects of former Hurricane Sandy. The teens grabbed fishing poles and went in search of trout and bass. “We thought it'd be perfect fishing weather, but we thought wrong,” Zach said, saying they didn't catch anything. Cheryl Deal chose to look at flooding in her Blue Ridge Summit, Pa., yard and home with a positive attitude.

A number of county roads were closed by flooding or downed wires or trees late Monday and early Tuesday. By Tuesday afternoon, county officials said all state routes had been reopened, although some county roads remained closed. Water from Antietam Creek spilled across a stretch of Burnside Bridge Road, closing it to traffic at Churchey Road Tuesday Morning. In Sharpsburg, Antietam Creek was at 9.5 feet Tuesday afternoon, according to the Weather Service. Flood stage there is 8 feet.

When Potomac Edison customers in the Tri-State area awoke Tuesday morning and found Superstorm Sandy had knocked power lines down across their vehicles or streets, their calls for assistance went to a hazard dispatch center at the utility's Bower Avenue complex near Williamsport. The windowless room is usually empty, but since Monday morning 31 dispatchers have been working one of two 16-hour shifts. They are handling electrical hazard reports from customers and 911 centers across Potomac Edison's territory in Maryland and West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle, and sister company West Penn Power's territory in Fulton and Franklin counties in Pennsylvania, utility officials said.