La PLATA, Md. -- Another sign of recovery came today as Charles County Public School officials have announced most schools will be open on Wednesday. Only La Plata High School, Milton Somers Middle School, Mary H. Matula Elementary School, Mitchell Elementary School, Radio Station Road Academy and F.B. Gwynn Center will remain closed.
Meanwhile, the city of La Plata entered its second full day of cleanup efforts from the worst-ever tornado to hit the state of Maryland. Volunteers hauled away debris and works crews were all over town to help the residents of La Plata whose homes and businesses were affected by the twister. The county is also setting up a "Peoples' Place," where residents can get help filing insurance claims, help finding housing, and other recovery services.
Officials now say the number of homes and businesses without power has been cut to just 200. Police are also planning to shut down Route 301 during the day Wednesday to replace traffic lights over the roadway.
Sunday night's tornado blew through La Plata and severely damaged or destroyed 100 homes and one-third of the city's businesses. The storm killed three people in Charles and Calvert counties and injured nearly 100 more. A preliminary assessment by the National Weather Service rated the twister an F5, the most powerful, on the Fujita scale.
Under the Fujita scale, a twister with an F5 rating has winds from 261 mph to 318 mph. Sunday's tornado left a trail of damage 26 miles long and extending from 50 feet to more than 400 feet wide in places.
Maryland has never had an F5 tornado and only two F4s are on record, including one in 1926 that killed 14 schoolchildren in La Plata. If the preliminary F5 rating for Sunday's tornado is made final, it will be the first of that magnitude in Maryland, said Susan Weaver of the weather service.
While meteorologists study the science, volunteers are coming to help those affected by the storm.
"Many volunteers have stopped and brought food and water, and a friend of mine brought a generator," one resident told News4.
From New Life Church, many members took the day off work to help out. "A lot of us who are here, our homes weren't affected," one volunteer said. "How can we not help people who've had their lives changed dramatically and bring hope to them? It was great to see their faces light up as people made a difference."
La Plata was under a 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew for the second consecutive night Monday. Officials said the curfew would continue Tuesday night. Much of the area as been cordoned off and residents had to have a police escort to get to their property. Public schools were closed in Charles and Calvert counties Tuesday.
Gov. Parris Glendening made a visit to the site Tuesday to survey tornado damage. Glendening told News4 that the the damage there is "far more severe" than what happened when a twister hit College Park last year. He also said the preliminary damage estimate is $100 million in Charles County.
The Governor declared a state of emergency for Charles, Calvert and Dorchester counties, freeing the National Guard to help with the cleanup. Sens. Paul Sarbanes and Barbara Mikulski toured the devastation Monday and promised to expedite federal help.
Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, who also surveyed the damage from the air, said the tornado appeared to have touched down "like a bouncing ball."
There also were reports the tornado touched down in Dorchester County on the Eastern Shore, where a house was demolished, but no one was injured.
William G. Erickson Jr., 51, of Waldorf, died in La Plata after a house collapsed, said Nina Voehl, a county spokeswoman. His wife, Susan, was in surgery Monday night at Prince George's Hospital Center. A nursing supervisor said Susan Erickson was in serious but stable condition. A neighbor, Laura Silk, said the Ericksons were visiting their new house, which was under construction, when the tornado struck.
Donald Hammonds, 54, was found in his car at U.S. 301 and Maryland Route 6, among the hardest hit areas in La Plata. He died at a nearby hospital, said Capt. J.C. Montminy of the Charles County Sheriff's Office.
In Prince Frederick, Margaret Albey, 74, and her 77-year-old husband, George, were found by neighbors huddled underneath a couch in a field of debris that had been their home for the past 32 years. She was dead at the scene. Her husband was rushed to Washington Hospital Center, where he was listed in good condition Monday afternoon.
Just southeast of the Albey home, George and Mary Gibson stood outside their house Monday, gazing in awe at the uprooted and downed trees laying across the roof and plunging through one side of the structure. In the back yard, their garage sat upside down. "We're just lucky to be alive," Mary Gibson said.
Seventy-seven-year-old Gloria Ward was sucked out of her house and into her yard. As she was pulled out of her house in Campbell County, the windows shattered and furniture blew apart. She landed on her head and got grass and dirt in her ears. She managed to get back into her one-story wooden house until the storm passed. Tree limbs and debris blocked her in. The storm knocked her house off its foundation.
She says she does wish people would stop driving through the area to look at storm damage. She says the gawkers are blocking residents and insurance adjusters.
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