Harford County Public Schools will close three hours early and cancel all evening activities Wednesday as a severe storm is expected in Maryland in the afternoon.

BGE officials said they have been closely monitoring the forecast and preparing for strong winds and heavy rain.

Officials said they are expecting the storm to be as strong or stronger than the storm that impacted the Baltimore region on February 16.

The February wind storm knocked over trees and powerlines, leaving more than 79,000 BGE customers without power across the region. Anne Arundel County saw the most impact, with 21,000 outages reported on the night of the storm.

According to BGE officials, half of service interruptions during severe storms are caused by falling vegetation like trees and tree limbs. The threat of service interruptions is higher during storms with strong winds.

In anticipation of Wednesday's storm, BGE has increased staffing across the region to ensure crews can respond to power outages quickly and safely. The increased staffing includes 350 mutual assistance personnel.

BGE officials said they will prioritize restoring power for public services and other essential services like hospitals and 911 centers.

BGE urges customers to prepare

BGE also urged customers to make some preparations for the forecasted severe weather.

Customers can report outages on BGE's website , by texting 69243, or by calling 877-778-2222.

Severe storm forecast

A line of strong to severe thunderstorms is expected to move into the Baltimore area Wednesday between noon and 5 p.m., according to WJZ's First Alert Weather Team.

The storm is expected to bring damaging wind gusts of 50 to 65 mph, torrential downpours, isolated pockets of hail and the possibility of isolated tornadoes.

The region could experience wind gusts of 40 to 50 mph through the day ahead of the storm. The weather team says damaging winds will be the greatest threat.

The line of storms is expected to clear before 6 p.m., though some isolated thunderstorms could develop in Western Maryland in the early evening. Dry conditions will return by 10 p.m., with overnight lows in the 40s.