BALTIMORE — Just after 6 PM, Fire Chief James Wallace says the fire department began getting calls about damage in several areas.
"We have damage in the burning highway area. The Boston Street area, the Seaforth Street area, which is a commercial area down around Amazon, and we also have damage in the area on Beckley Street," Chief Wallace said.
Although the damage is significant, officials say there are no serious injuries.
Hear from city officials, first responders as they discuss the impact of the storm
"We know how an event like this can turn tragic really quickly and so far, we've avoided any serious injuries to anyone," said Mayor Brandon Scott.
"This is a big incident, with a lot of resources. There are a lot of things we're dealing with that the fire department doesn't necessarily deal with. Trees down, water leaks, and things like that. We have all the resources, all the leadership is here. All the resources we need are out working in the field," said Chief Wallace.
Joe Henderson, director of the Office of Emergency Management, says they will continue to assess damages overnight to determine what state the city is in.
"The city has fully responded to this. We will keep the emergency operation center open as long as we need to, to support fire. Eventually, fire will turn the scene over and we will have to conduct a damage assessment tomorrow morning along with the state to see if this meets the threshold for declaration," Henderson said.
Mayor Scott says despite the widespread damage, and the significant damage to the Merritt Clubs, he is glad people were able to make it out okay.
"There were a lot of people in here and we are extremely lucky. We were talking to the manager and the team there, they did a great job of keeping people into safer spaces. We're lucky that no one was injured with the severe damage that they have in the building," said Mayor Scott.
The storm led to 2,700 power outages and 11 roads were fully closed, with 7 roads partially closed throughout the city.
Officials say they have been working to re-open those roads and restore power and will continue to do so throughout the night.
Also, the area will remain as incident command throughout the night to continue assessing and responding to different areas as they learn more about the extent of the damage.
