County escapes damage from Hanna

Tropical Storm Hanna blew through the county yesterday without delivering the wallop emergency crews feared.

"I expected a little more than this, and we're happy to take this," said Capt. Tom Wilson from the county's Emergency Operations Center in Glen Burnie.

The fingers of the storm first touched the area Friday night, bringing a light sprinkle of rain. But things were generally quiet until about 10 a.m., when winds and rain started to pick up for a three-hour period. From then until 1 p.m., 3/4 of an inch of rain fell at the Naval Academy and sustained winds ranged from 13 to 25 mph, with gusts as high as 46 mph. By 7 p.m., the storm was gone. All told, most of the county received between 1 and 3 inches of rain courtesy of Hanna and damage was minimal, officials said.

In many cases, the storm was more of an inconvenience than a hazard. The Ultimate Crab Soup Cookoff at the Navy Marine Corps Stadium was postponed until Nov. 11 and the county public school system canceled all school-sponsored activities in school buildings or school properties.

And some used the rain as a chance for fun, trying a bit of windsurfing in unusually agitated water off of Eastport or in umbrella-less, drenched strolls through the Historic District.

The Emergency Operations Center in Glen Burnie opened at 6 a.m. and handled fewer than 10 emergency calls through the day, most of which were for trees that had fallen onto roads. They were cleared quickly without causing major problems, Capt. Wilson said.

And flooding wasn't an issue. The only areas that flooded were locations that end up submerged even in normal rains, he said.

"A coastal surge was not an issue," he said.

And through the day, fewer than 2,000 people were out of power, he said.

Things were so quiet at the emergency center that by 6 p.m., workers there were starting to close shop.

Annapolis police had zero storm-related accidents or road closures, said Sgt. Beth Nelson.

City Dock remained relatively dry; water levels didn't even make it to the metal toes of the Alex Haley statue. On Friday, the city Department of Public Works prepared for the first field trial of new "water walls." Essentially 20-foot-long, 3-foot-high and 3-foot-deep rubber balloons filled with water, they are designed to do the work of sandbags and keep water away from buildings. City employees barricaded the Market House with them, but it appears that it was just an act of caution, not actual prevention; the only water that hit the walls came from the sky, not from an encroaching Spa Creek.

As of 5 p.m., 16,000 people on the Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. power grid were without service; most of them were in Baltimore County and city.

There were a few outages in Anne Arundel, with the most occurring in the Mayo and Crofton areas.

The electric company had "pre-mobilized" its storm response yesterday morning, putting 1,500 local employees to work and bringing in an additional 400 out-of-state and contract personnel.

While Anne Arundel escaped without any major problems, parts of Northern Virginia were hit with as much as 81/2 inches, said Jim Decarufel, a forecaster with the National Weather Service.

While they clean up today, Anne Arundel residents should be enjoying mostly sunny skies with highs in the 80s.