Strong winds move through area causing fatality, widespread property damage
Bob Likens
Cumberland Times-News
— CUMBERLAND — High winds swept through the area Wednesday evening, resulting in the death of a 49-year-old woman who was riding a bicycle on a paved portion of the Great Allegheny Passage in the city.
She was struck and fatally injured by a tree that reportedly was brought down by the severe storm.
Cumberland Police officers responded to the popular hiker/biker trail near the Valley Street intersection after first being alerted to the incident at 6:14 p.m. Officers found the victim under an 18- to 20-inch locust tree, immediately began to render aid and requested the city fire department and its emergency medical services personnel to respond.
The victim was freed from beneath the tree and transported to the Western Maryland Regional Medical Center where she died of her injuries, said police.
Local law enforcement was at the scene of the accident after 7 p.m. Wednesday, keeping residents out of the area because of live power lines that were down. The identity of the victim was withheld, pending notification of family members.
From Garrett County to neighboring counties in West Virginia, numerous trees were reported down, keeping emergency dispatchers hustling by calling out fire departments to clear away debris and preventing people from getting close to any live wires. Also, trees were reported across power lines and into houses at a number of locations throughout the area.
Hundreds of residents were without power for a variety of problems ranging from blown fuses, overhead wiring or equipment problems, underground wiring, transformer fires and a host of related problems.
Around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, Allegheny Power reported about 4,000 customers were without electricity in Allegany, Garrett and Mineral counties.
Bryan Miller, shift supervisor for Allegany County 911 Center, said things began going downhill shortly after 6 p.m. when the storm starting moving through the area.
“We handled more than 200 calls,’’ Miller said. He said there were numerous calls about tree and power lines down “throughout the county.’’
Miller also said off-duty dispatchers were called in to handle the large amount of calls.
“We started with a normal shift of six and went up to 10. We have eight in here now,’’ he said, that being about 9:45 p.m.
“We have about four to five units out right now,’’ he said, “and we’re looking at the weather maps because it looks like we’re going to be in for more severe weather Thursday.’’
And on top of it all, Miller said, Orleans firefighters were sent to Morgan County, W.Va., to assist with battling a house fire there.
Residents and business employees were working Wednesday evening, clearing up the damage brought by Mother Nature.
Frank Lynch, a driver for NAPA Auto Parts, 446 N. Mechanic St., and Floyd Friend, NAPA store manager in Keyser, W.Va., were busy putting cardboard up to replace a large store window that was blown out by the wind.
“I heard about it on my scanner,’’ Lynch said. He said he heard Cumberland Police needed some help at the location because of glass all over the sidewalk. “That was about 6:30 p.m.,’’ he said, “so I came in and yelled for help and Friend came down.’’
At 200 Maple St., Janet Stegmaier was sitting on her porch looking at the tree that was down across the road from her house.
“I heard a crash, then thunder and the wind was very strong,’’ she said. Stegmaier said her home did not sustain any damage and she was told by a Cumberland Police officer who showed up at the scene that someone would be there some time during the evening to clear the tree from the road. As Stegmaier sat there she did say she was enjoying the beautiful rainbow that was over the city.
A dispatcher at the Garrett County Emergency Center said Friendsville, Accident and the Deep Creek Lake area were the hardest hit.
“We have a lot of trees down, a lot of lines down, a lot of utility poles down, but there are no injures,’’ the dispatcher said.
The dispatcher also said that two Garrett roads were closed due to high-tension lines being down.
A dispatcher for Hampshire County (W.Va.) Emergency Services said the storm started moving through about 6:30 p.m. and the area had a lot of trees and power lines down. Around 9:30 p.m., she said a handful of emergency personnel were still on calls, but they were beginning to clear and return to their stations. She also reported no injures caused by the storms.
Mike Pigott, a meteorologist with AccuWeather, told the Times-News Wednesday evening that the region had been placed under a severe thunderstorm warning and a squall line of strong storms moved through the area with winds gusting to 40 mph at the Garrett County Airport.
“You’re not out of the woods yet,’’ Pigott said. “There is another round of strong storms that is forecast to move through the area Thursday morning.’’
