A huge Dumpster of frozen food – filled to the brim with Hot Pockets, Celeste pizzas and Lean Cuisine pasta meals – was sitting outside of the Eddie’s Market on Roland Avenue today (Monday).

“Closed due to lack of power!” read a hand-lettered sign on the locked door of the upscale north Baltimore supermarket.

A forlorn man walked past the cache of food un-tempted. He had come for ice after discovering that the nearby Giant at the Rotunda was without it.

Hurricane Irene Saturday night pounded Baltimore with rain and strafed it with capricious gusts of wind that felled trees across the city, but the storm’s lingering impact was on the businesses and homes left without electricity.

According to the Maryland Emergency Management Agency, 472,000 people in Maryland were still without power this afternoon. The hurricane that failed to deliver the dire destruction television weather teams predicted did initially knock out power to some 850,000 homes and businesses, state officials said.

No one answered the phone at the Roland Ave. Eddies and no managers were available yesterday to discuss the power outage and food disposal.

A sign said the store would open as soon as possible Tuesday.