Flood watch across much of Maryland after turbulent weekend weather

Marylanders should expect more stormy weather this week, with possible flash flooding.

The National Weather Service issued a flood watch for much of Central Maryland, including Baltimore City and Anne Arundel, Carroll, Harford, Howard, Montgomery, Prince George’s and Baltimore counties. The watch was for 4 p.m. through midnight Monday.

Anna Stuck, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service, said 2 to 3 inches of rain is expected to fall across the Baltimore region Monday evening. Though weather officials don’t anticipate a storm as bad as Sunday night, flooding is a risk, Stuck said.

A heat wave that settled over the region is mixing with cooler temperatures from the northeast and forming powerful storm systems, said Chris Strong, a meteorologist for the weather service’s Baltimore/Washington office. Temperatures will be in the upper 80s through Wednesday, with some scattered thunderstorms Monday evening and Tuesday.

“There’s a potential for a lot of rain to fall pretty quickly, so people should be cautious for flooding later on today,” Strong said earlier Monday.

According to Stuck, Monday and Tuesday pose bigger threats for storms. There’ll be a lull in the system on Wednesday, she said, with heavy rain resuming for the remainder of the week.

A different storm system over the Fourth of July weekend knocked down trees across parts of Central Maryland, affecting homes and infrastructure.

The Maryland Transit Administration said Monday that the Cromwell Light Rail station in Glen Burnie remains closed, until the area can be made safe by BGE. It said the bus bridge is now operating from Patapsco Station to 8th Avenue and Baltimore & Annapolis Boulevard, and to BWI Airport.

Baltimore County Police on Monday evening shared 13 intersections without traffic signals due to power outages.

Sunday’s storm also damaged Baltimore Gas and Electric equipment, according to a news release, and more than 70,000 people lost power.

Baltimore City and Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Harford counties were hit the hardest, the utility said.

By 5 p.m. Monday, about 14,600 customers were without power, BGE said in a subsequent news release. Most should see power restored by Tuesday or Wednesday.

The latest storms follow scorching triple-digit temperatures across the state during the Fourth of July holiday. The temperature in downtown Baltimore reached 104 degrees on Saturday, breaking a record for that date. The previous record was 101 degrees in 2002. High temperatures are only expected to reach the mid-80s through Wednesday and then start to rise again.