Al though the Eastern Shore blunts the effects of severe tropical storms like 2003?s Isabel, Baltimore public safety officials are still bracing for their after effects ? as well as tornadoes and hazardous materials incidents ? in the region?s many transportation and shipping facilities.
“Hurricanes are a concern, but obviously not to the extent of the Louisiana and Gulf Coast,” Baltimore County Office of Emergency Management spokeswoman Elise Armacost said Tuesday. “The biggest risk we face is some kind of major transportation-related disaster.”
The CSX Baltimore tunnel fire of July 2001 and suspected terrorist activity in the Harbor Tunnel in October put the focus on the region?s vulnerability as a major transportation hub.
“You have a lot of substances that go up and down this corridor every day,” Armacost said. “If something happens to one of these, how would we respond?”
In coming weeks, local, state and federal emergency responders will conduct drills based on similar scenarios to test their ability to create a joint information center. Armacost would not elaborate on the nature of the scenario “because some of our responders don?t know what?s going to happen.”
At a severe-weather conference in Columbia on Tuesday, federal, state and local responders discussed what might be a record hurricane season ahead.
National Weather Service officials said there is a 60 percent chance a major hurricane might hit the Atlantic Coast this year. By a major hurricane, they generally mean something on the scale of the unnamed “Great Chesapeake Hurricane of 1933” that would dwarf the impact of Tropical Storm Isabel.
