Community Corner

The Latest on Riverdale Park-University Park Storm Recovery

Power has been restored to the majority of both towns, but plenty of obstacles remain.

Update, 5:45 p.m.:

As of 5:45 p.m., the number of customers without power in Prince George's County had ticked down to 46,638, or about 21 percent.

Meanwhile, the state's death toll since Friday's storms climbed to six, and the Prince George's County Fire Department said that it had received three times as many emergency calls as normal on Saturday.

Find out what's happening in Riverdale Park-University Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Reports of price gouging are also trickling in across the state. If you spot any suspiciously high prices at gas stations, grocery stores, or hotels in the Riverdale area, drop an email to johnd@patch.com.

Original article:

Find out what's happening in Riverdale Park-University Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Patch spoke with Riverdale Park Mayor Vernon Archer and University Park Mayor John Tabori Monday afternoon for the latest on cleanup efforts.

Riverdale Park

  • As noted this morning, all town streets are now passable after trees and power lines were cleared over the weekend.
  • "We're working on getting our sidewalk rights-of-way cleaned up," Archer said. "Man there's a lot of stuff, so it's going to take a while."
  • Archer said he hadn't been given an estimate yet of when residents of Park Tanglewood Apartments, which were badly damaged on Friday, would be allowed to return. "I know the contractor is working over there," Archer said. "They're doing everything they can. Everybody's working in the same direction, but we don't have a real time estimate.
  • Power has been restored to the western two-thirds of town, except for a few isolated pockets.
  • Traffic lights are running again at all main intersections in town.
  • Debris pickup will be complicated by the fact that the town's trash contractor (Bates Trucking & Trash Removal) normally comes on Wednesday, which falls on a holiday this week. "It's going to take some time to get everything picked up," Archer said.

University Park

  • Power is almost fully restored across town, save for two blocks—the 6500 block of 41st Ave. and the 7000 block of Forest Hill Drive—and roughly a dozen isolated homes.
  • Cleanup crews are out, but there are still 5-6 "problem areas" around town that need addressing.
  • "We have a lot of damage," Tabori said, but things have gone relatively well "from the point of view of getting power restored and ensuring the safety of the community."

Have any information to share about the cleanup process in Riverdale Park or University Park? Let us know in the comments or contact johnd@patch.com.


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