In the fifteen years I have lived in Maryland, I have encountered several tropical systems that have dumped rain and wind on the area. Being that any hurricanes that make landfall in the Carolinas usually have an eventual impact on Maryland weather, we have seen several remnants of hurricanes such as Beryl, Earl, Charlie, and other storms. But three systems have struck the upper Chesapeake region as either reduced Tropical Storms or Cat 1 Hurricanes. Those three Hurricanes have also impacted during different times in my life, so my attitude towards these cyclones has differed as the years have progressed. So, it’s very tough to rate the Hurricanes as to which is the worst. I’ll try as we briefly go through each of the three storms:
(1) Hurricane Floyd (1999): Floyd made landfall near Cape Fear as a Category 2 Hurricane. Although the storm had at one point been a Cat 4, the storm weakened as it approached the Carolina coastline. Rapidly going through North Carolina and Virginia it briefly emerged in the Lower Chesapeake Bay before crossing into the Delmarva peninsula as a Tropical Storm and ultimately New Jersey. The storm caused extensive damage in North Carolina, knocked out power to 500,000 BGE customers in Maryland, and flooded Maryland and New Jersey.
As someone who was a bachelor and living in a apartment at age 25 at the time, I was intrigued by experiencing my first Hurricane. I had very little invested in a place and I was living in a 2nd floor apartment, so I thought I had very little to worry. I was at work the day Floyd’s effects hit central Maryland. It was a lot of rain and some wind, but there was no real concern for the storm. Most people took the storm in stride and there was little panic. I never lost power during the storm. By the time I left work, the worst of the storm had passed. The next day was one of the cleanest skies I had ever seen and the cool air felt great for several days afterwards.
(2) Hurricane Isabel (2003): Isabel made landfall in the Outer Banks of North Carolina as a Category 2 Hurricane, but it had a brief history as a Category 5 storm out in the Atlantic. It crashed into eastern North Carolina, then rolled into the heart of Virginia as a Tropical Storm driving up into the Western Maryland mountains and Pennsylvania where it became extra-tropical. Isabel caused massive Power Outages in Virginia (2+ million customers) and Maryland (over a million Pepco and BGE customers lost power). The storm also brought a tidal surge into the Chesapeake Bay that flooded downtown Annapolis, the Baltimore Inner Harbor, and western Chesapeake Bay ports.
With this storm, I was still a bachelor, but I was now nearly 30 and had a townhouse of my own to call home. The warnings were clear and everyone was told to prepare for power being out for multiple days. The tree behind my house was the big concern. I also locked everything down in the tool shed and inside the house to prevent the wind from blowing everything around. The storm came through at night, so I slept downstairs in the family room, just in case the tree had come down on top of the bedroom. The wind did blow substantially to the point of tropical storm force winds. In the end, I never lost power, and the tree stayed up. Before I went outside, I didn’t think it was a big deal. Then I saw several downed trees in my neighborhood and driving around the area showed that power was out across a wide area. Then I saw the pictures of the Naval Academy and the WTC-Baltimore under water. That convinced me I made the right decision.
(3) Hurricane Irene (2011): Irene, like Isabel, struck the Outer Banks as a Category 1 storm, but it had a path similar to Floyd. Although it was not as strong at its peak as Floyd or Isabel (Cat 3 was the maximum), it was an immense storm with tropical storm force winds extending far out from the center. By the time it passed near Ocean City, it was a minimum Cat 1, but the winds reached into Baltimore and D.C. and other cities up and down the East Coast. Flooding, power outages, and downed trees were prevalent up and down the East Coast and damage and deaths extended across an area from South Carolina up to Maine and into Canada.
In this storm, I was a married 37-year old and a father of a two-year old living in a recently bought house. So my concern was not just for me, but for my family. I was more worried about this storm than the previous two. Preparations was more intense. Everything was battened down, the cars were gassed up and food was bought for the storm specifically. Thankfully no trees were around. The rain and wind struck their worst during the nighttime like Isabel. When morning came, power had briefly gone out, but came back on. Damage to the house was minimal. Again, I had dodged the bullet of severe damage.
So, which hurricane was the worst? By far, Floyd was not the worst of the three. Flooding was more the concern. As for Isabel and Irene? It’s very close, but I give the nod of worst Hurricane to Isabel for two reasons: First, the tidal surge in the Chesapeake Bay was devastating to areas along the western Chesapeake shoreline. Second, the hype about Irene has been a little overblown. Don’t get me wrong, Irene was a terrible storm and caused more damage than Isabel across a wider area. But in Maryland, Isabel caused just slightly more problems.
The next hurricane to have a direct impact on Maryland will likely occur in the next 4-8 years. When the next hurricane strikes, will we be ready? And will the next Hurricane be as bad as the previous three? Time will tell…
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