Hurricane Isabel archived coverage
Perfect storm, awful floods
Three years ago this September, a storm surge driven by winds from a weakening Hurricane Isabel produced the worst Chesapeake Bay flooding in 70 years. Read more ...
Embracing Isabel's 'silver lining'
On a point overlooking Galloway Creek, Joe and Rosalie Hession savor sunsets from the top floor of their new, round, hurricane-resistant house. Read more ...
Isabel victims commiserate; some still wait
Two years after escaping her flooded Baltimore County neighborhood in a rowboat, Debra Simon watched her television in horror the past several days, reliving the nightmare of losing her home to a wall of water. Read more ...
Balto. Co. getting $1.39 million for Isabel victims
Baltimore County will receive $1.39 million from the federal government to help victims of Tropical Storm Isabel elevate their homes above the flood plain, Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski and Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin announced yesterday. Read more ...
Federal auditors scrutinize Isabel claims
Auditors from a federal inspector general's office have begun an investigation of the National Flood Insurance Program's handling of claims from Tropical Storm Isabel, according to flood victims and Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski's office. Read more ...
Damage-control steps ordered in wake of Isabel
In the wake of widespread power outages last fall from Tropical Storm Isabel, the Maryland Public Service Commission has ordered the state's utilities to take preventive steps aimed at reducing damage from storms and to improve communication with both emergency agencies and the public. Read more ...
Storm victims take claims for second look
For nearly eight months, Annapolis resident Victoria Wheatley has been battling her insurance companies over coverage of her two-story home, condemned by the city after it was ravaged by Tropical Storm Isabel. Read more ...
Federal officials to review Isabel insurance claims
Homeowners can have their Tropical Storm Isabel insurance claims reviewed by federal officials Wednesday in Queen Anne's County and Thursday in Edgewater. Read more ...
Members of dive team honored by Balto. Co. for work during Isabel
Nine members of the Baltimore County Police dive team who swam through sewage-tainted, raging floodwaters during Tropical Storm Isabel to rescue others received the Medal of Honor, the department's highest honor, yesterday. Read more ...
Legislature approves bills to aid victims of Tropical Storm Isabel
In the final days of the General Assembly session, legislators passed more measures designed to help Tropical Storm Isabel victims and to prevent a repeat of some of the problems they have experienced since the storm. Read more ...
Flood bares insurance plan in chaos
When Tropical Storm Isabel sent nearly 3 feet of water through Bob Valentin's bungalow at the mouth of the Bird River, he figured his insurance agency would send someone out to survey the damage and write him a check. Just as if he had been in a car crash. Read more ...
Isabel Q&A with The Sun's Andrew A. Green
If you receive unsatisfactory responses from federal or state officials about your claim, please feel free to e-mail Green at andy.green@baltsun.com. Read more ...
Ehrlich signs Isabel bill
Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. signed a bill yesterday creating a low-interest loan program for Marylanders who still need financial help to rebuild homes damaged by Tropical Storm Isabel, and he announced that his administration will quickly process applications for the aid. Read more ...
Advocate for the storm-tossed
Until six months ago, Steve Kanstoroom hadn't given flood insurance a second thought. But on Thursday, the retired consultant from Talbot County was sitting with the head of the federal flood insurance program in the lobby of a suburban Washington office tower, sharing insights into ways to prevent a repeat of the widespread problems with claims that followed Tropical Storm Isabel. Read more ...
U.S. agrees to review Isabel settlements
WASHINGTON - Under pressure from U.S. senators from Maryland and North Carolina, the head of the federal flood insurance program agreed yesterday to aggressively seek out Tropical Storm Isabel victims who feel their claims were handled unfairly and increase payments to them if their settlements were too low. Read more ...
Disputed Isabel claims reviewed
Maryland's insurance commissioner said yesterday that he passed on dozens of complaints from Tropical Storm Isabel victims to the head of the National Flood Insurance Program, and both men said the agency will review those files and correct any flawed settlements. Read more ...
Isabel claims under scrutiny
The questionable use of price guides by insurance adjusters after Tropical Storm Isabel may be to blame for many of the low settlement offers reported by homeowners seeking to repair damaged houses from Maryland to North Carolina, insurance and construction experts say. Read more ...
Senate panel hears testimony on 11 bills tied to Isabel damage
Advocates for victims of Tropical Storm Isabel argued yesterday in favor of a Senate bill that would require the state's insurance commissioner to regulate the conduct of flood insurance agents and adjusters, a move they said could immediately help those still recovering from the September storm. Read more ...
Smith seeks to toughen state law regarding flood insurance carriers
After complaining for two months that the Maryland Insurance Administration should do more to help Tropical Storm Isabel victims, Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr. is now pushing for a change in state law that he says would force the agency to more aggressively police flood insurance carriers. Read more ...
Senate panel accepts Redmer nomination
Despite protests by victims of Tropical Storm Isabel, a Maryland Senate committee voted unanimously last night to accept the nomination of Alfred W. Redmer Jr. as state insurance commissioner. Read more ...
Senate asked to block Redmer
More than 60 Tropical Storm Isabel victims gathered on flood-ravaged Millers Island yesterday to ask the Maryland Senate to delay confirming the state insurance commissioner until he takes more aggressive action against flood insurance providers. Read more ...
Isabel victims shortchanged, report says
The state should step in to protect the rights of victims of Tropical Storm Isabel who have been shortchanged by their insurance companies, according to a report released yesterday by Maryland's former insurance commissioner. Read more ...
General Assembly
Bill would provide funds still needed by Isabel victims
Karen DiMario hadn't lived in an apartment a single day in her life. But in the four months since the flood waters of Tropical Storm Isabel wiped out the home on Dundalk's Bear Creek that she and her husband had shared for 14 years, she has found herself driving every night to a place that feels like anything but home. Read more ...
Isabel's gift: an ancient whale
SOLOMONS - An amateur fossil hunter strolling the banks of the St. Mary's River after Tropical Storm Isabel stopped in his tracks when he saw a bone protruding from the sandy muck. Beneath his feet, he soon learned, were the skull and jaws of a whale that swam here 8 million years ago, when Southern Maryland was under the Atlantic. Read more ...
Mountains that form when the chips are down
Annapolis now has a mountaintop view to go along with its waterfront vistas. Read more ...
Tenants of city trade center tread water
With just a few hours to get in and out, and sometimes in darkness, an associate of Lee Connor enters the World Trade Center in downtown Baltimore, retrieves some documents and gets them back to the boss. Read more ...
Insurance troubles after Isabel bringing second wave of woe
For the past two weeks, insurance representatives, adjusters and federal inspectors have been parading through John and Donna Provenzano's 3-year-old Miller's Island home to assess the damage inflicted by Tropical Storm Isabel. Read more ...
Flooded residents stymied over aid
Frustrated by a lack of aid to rebuild or repair their homes from the devastation of Tropical Storm Isabel, hundreds of eastern Baltimore County residents packed the Bowleys Quarters Volunteer Fire Department hall last night for a meeting with state and local officials. Read more ...
Changing tides for residences along shoreline
Since Debbie Allen bought her 943 square feet of paradise, she has watched 16 years of sunrises over the Chesapeake Bay and boats crawling past her window. She has also watched the homes around her get larger and larger. Read more ...
A community ripped apart
HOOPERSVILLE - Tropical Storm Isabel swallowed a chunk of the causeway here, effectively cutting off from the rest of civilization this narrow, remote island that sticks out like a pinky into the Chesapeake Bay. Read more ...
Panel gets BGE outage answers
Downed trees were responsible for most of the Baltimore area's 650,000 outages during Tropical Storm Isabel, representatives from Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. told a House of Delegates subcommittee in Annapolis yesterday. But they said the company doesn't think underground lines would have lessened the impact. Read more ...
Isabel goes against the grain, forces farm's corn maze to close
For three years, Horizon Organic Farm's Amaizing Organic Corn Maze has challenged visitors with its three-mile entanglement of paths. Read more ...
Isabel may be gone, but need for caution lingers, scientists say
While coastal residents from Maryland to the Carolinas pick up the wreckage from Isabel, meteorologists are warning East Coast communities to prepare for busier hurricane seasons for the next 10 to 40 years. Read more ...
Md. marinas hard hit by tropical storm
Charles Cao has good reason to feel awful. The pleasantly ramshackle South Baltimore boatyard he owns, Middle Branch Marina, took a huge hit from Tropical Storm Isabel. Read more ...
Power outages prompt inquiries
State legislators and regulators moved yesterday to question utilities about the power outages that persist for tens of thousands of Marylanders nearly a week after Tropical Storm Isabel tore through the region. Read more ...
In Balto. County, a tall order after Isabel
When bay-shore residents finally get their heads above water and rebuild homes wrecked by Tropical Storm Isabel, the houses in many old waterside neighborhoods will get taller. Read more ...
Along the bay, victims await FEMA's help
Rosanne and Joseph Walters just want a place to live. Read more ...
Fire hall quickly becomes 'storm central'
The Bowleys Quarters Volunteer Fire Department headquarters isn't just a fire hall anymore. Read more ...
Sewage swamps Baltimore artifacts
The Baltimore Museum of Industry staff prepared well for Tropical Storm Isabel's wind and waves. Read more ...
Isabel outages bolster library, Web traffic
SILVER SPRING - Doing without TV and hot showers during a blackout is rough, but for some, going without e-mail is unbearable. Read more ...
New storm, more misery
As Marylanders struggled to recover from Isabel's destruction, another storm hit early yesterday, dumping heavy rain on an already soaked region, renewing fears of flooding, forcing the closure of more roads and setting back efforts to restore power. Read more ...
Storm hampers effort to restore power
The rainstorm that hit the Baltimore area on the heels of Tropical Storm Isabel plunged 56,000 more people into darkness and made Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.'s effort to restore power to all customers that much harder. Read more ...
New storm out-rains Isabel in area
They might have escaped the fury of Tropical Storm Isabel, but communities from Western Maryland to Carroll County were hit hard by torrential rains that struck overnight Monday. Read more ...
To repair or raze in Balto. County
Darlene Stefanowicz was calm and collected yesterday as the building inspector determined that her house needs to be torn down and dispensed tips on rebuilding. Read more ...
Owners on the Shore ponder whether to rehab or rebuild
ROCK HALL - The trolley used to stop at Linda and Richard Schauer's water garden so riders could gaze at the goldfish and lily pads in the gurgling pond. Read more ...
3 federal centers open to help storm's victims
Wearing matching "I Survived Hurricane Isabel" T-shirts, Michael and Sharon Grosscup were among the first in line as the Disaster Recovery Center in eastern Baltimore County opened its doors yesterday afternoon. Read more ...
Crews work long hours, hoping to get steel mill running today
Scratched in chalk on a wall inside the power plant that normally fuels steel production in Sparrows Point are the words Sept. 2003 flood. Read more ...
Storms renew misery along Isabel's path
RICHMOND, Va. - The East Coast's recovery from Isabel was dealt a setback yesterday by another round of storms that caused renewed flooding, flattened trees that had withstood the hurricane and left thousands of customers without power, some for the second time in less than a week. Read more ...
Isabel causes extensive shoreline erosion
The ecological damage to Sharps Point isn't hard to spot. Read more ...
Extent of storm damage growing
Tropical Storm Isabel destroyed or severely damaged thousands of Maryland homes and businesses, government officials said yesterday as the full extent of the storm's toll began to emerge. Read more ...
Repair work seems endless
Life on the front line of the Isabel cleanup isn't easy. Read more ...
Downtown office tenants seek alternatives
When Tropical Storm Isabel swept through Baltimore, it left 16 feet of water in the basement of the World Trade Center, threw the lives of the 800 people who work there into chaos and destroyed the building's electrical and communications systems. Read more ...
Beth Steel facility shut after plant floods
The Bethlehem Steel Sparrows Point mill has not made any steel since Hurricane Isabel sent an unprecedented 10-foot storm surge into its power plant last week - possibly the longest unplanned outage in the plant's history. Read more ...
Scores of area roads remain blocked
Four days after Isabel lashed Maryland, scores of Baltimore-area roads remained blocked yesterday by toppled trees - some ensnared by power lines and awaiting utility crews - and crippled by malfunctioning traffic lights. Read more ...
Schools struggle to dry off, clean out fridges
Confronting flooded buildings and spoiled food, dozens of Baltimore-area schools still reeling from Tropical Storm Isabel struggled yesterday to pump basements, assess damage and throw away soured milk. Read more ...
Storm swamps Naval Academy halls
Tropical Storm Isabel wrought tens of millions of dollars in damage at the Naval Academy, destroying lab equipment, plumbing and ventilation systems, and leaving half the classrooms unusable, school officials said yesterday. Read more ...
North Carolina, Virginia still reeling after storm
RICHMOND, Va. - Four days after Hurricane Isabel barreled into the East Coast, thousands of people went back to work yesterday without the benefit of home-cooked meals or hot showers, and encountered miles of blank traffic lights and downed power lines. Read more ...
Among wreckage, families find reason to be thankful
ON BAY DRIVE in Bowleys Quarters, everybody's worldly possessions are now scattered around everybody else's yards: furniture and toys and front porches, and the sides of houses that were ripped away last week as whitecaps bullied their way onto land and rushed between homes. Read more ...
Thousands still trying to cope
On the first workday after Isabel blew through the state, Marylanders will find schools closed, traffic signals out and thousands still trying to cope without power. Read more ...
With prayers of thanks and reflections on Isabel
Julie Pierson fought tears as she stood in the hazy sun outside Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Essex yesterday, temporarily homeless and with only an erratic cellular phone to connect her to the world. Read more ...
372,000 remain without electricity
More than 370,000 Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. customers were still waiting for power yesterday, and company executives cautioned that it could be Friday, more than a week after the first outages occurred, before power is restored to all. Read more ...
Some stoplights remain without power
As of last night, Baltimore officials reported 42 traffic lights remained without power. Read more ...
Flood victims left to gather the remnants
Two days after she and her young sons left their eastern Baltimore County house in a boat, Lakeesha King still didn't think it was safe to go back yesterday. Read more ...
Emergency assistance programs
Maryland residents who suffered damage from Hurricane Isabel have 60 days to apply for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Read more ...
Nature's power
At the beginning of the 1977 miniseries "Roots," the father of Kunta Kinte takes his baby out under the African sky and holds the infant high beneath a stunning canopy of stars. "Behold," he says, "the only thing greater than yourself." Read more ...
Wrath of Isabel
With further havoc expected today, Hurricane Isabel delivered its promised punch last night, lashing Maryland with high winds and heavy rain that caused flooding across the state and knocked out power for hundreds of thousands. Read more ...
Frequently asked storm questions
What is storm surge? Read more ...
Coordinating response to Md. disasters
Officials gathered at the state's emergency operations center last night as Hurricane Isabel rumbled through Maryland were led by a former military man whose name rarely appears in newspapers and whose image rarely appears on television. Read more ...
Risks to health, money come after storm
The aftermath of Hurricane Isabel could bring potential health risks and possible financial scams, officials warned yesterday. Read more ...
In shelters, strangers find safety, friends
The schoolhouse-turned-shelter where Thomas A. Kirchner spent much of yesterday huddling from the storm was not much to look at. Read more ...
What's a little wind, water?
After 40 years or so in a house so close to the Chesapeake Bay that they could just about launch boats from their living room, Raymond and Elizabeth Walker have figured out the most effective way to prepare for a hurricane: A little after noon yesterday, as Isabel was hitting the North Carolina coast, they were making meatloaf. Read more ...
Ky. team to assist in flood rescue
In preparation for possible serious flooding in Western Maryland, a 30-member team of water rescue specialists from Kentucky was expected to arrive in Cumberland last night. Read more ...
In Maryland, all eyes on hurricane
Maryland played the role of a reluctant host yesterday, waiting and watching through a long gray day until Hurricane Isabel announced its arrival with powerful winds and drenching rain. Across the region, people weathered the storm in stride. Read more ...
Potent storm 'was a monster'
JACKSONVILLE, N.C. - Hurricane Isabel pinwheeled into North Carolina and Virginia with devastating force early yesterday afternoon, then screamed up the Eastern seaboard, knocking out power for more than 2 million people in those two states alone, ripping the roofs off homes, felling trees, and flooding low-lying areas. Read more ...
'Nothing to do but wait' for Isabel
With a week's worth of preparations in place, Marylanders are bracing for the long-awaited arrival today of the hurricane that was bearing down on the North Carolina coast last night with winds exceeding 100 mph. Read more ...
Newest technologies improve prediction
For decades Americans have flocked to the cities and beaches of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, setting up homes, resorts and businesses like pins in a bowling alley. Read more ...
Shore farmers racing the storm
Eastern Shore farmers rushed to harvest their corn yesterday in a race with the storm that they fear will whip in today with crop-damaging winds. Read more ...
Smith Islanders evacuate
SMITH ISLAND - Kristen Bradshaw wasn't exactly sure what to grab yesterday as she fled her hometown here in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. But there was one thing she wasn't leaving to chance or to the winds and waves of Hurricane Isabel - her wedding gown. Read more ...
People can really get charged up over Isabel
TO SEE THE Isabel panic for myself, I went to Home Depot yesterday because there is simply no better place to be with a hurricane bearing down on you than a store the size of a NATO base that offers 15 varieties of duct tape. Read more ...
Md. battens down for Isabel
Beneath deceptively clear, blue skies, Marylanders pushed their preparations for Hurricane Isabel yesterday, securing homes, businesses and boats, and rushing their harvests to beat the heavy rains and gales expected tomorrow. Read more ...
As storm looms, Ocean City shuts most of Sunfest
Ocean City - As visitors strolled the boardwalk on a perfect September day, the mayor reluctantly moved to discourage others from coming until after Hurricane Isabel has gone. Read more ...
Residents told to prepare for floods
Howard County Executive James N. Robey warned yesterday that Hurricane Isabel could bring heavy rains and high winds to the county in a short time and that flooding could hit low-lying areas such as lower Main Street in Ellicott City. Read more ...
Refusing to let Hurricane Isabel rain on their parade
Emily Shifrin describes her home as chaotic. It's a description that seems to apply to all aspects of her life these days. Read more ...
Finding weather information on the Web
The Internet has many sites for tracking developments on Hurricane Isabel, including: Read more ...
Insurance hotlines
AIG Specialty Auto Group Read more ...
Getting ready for a storm
Emergency agencies recommend that Maryland residents take measures to protect themselves, their homes and their pets. Read more ...
Md. bracing for threat of Isabel
This one does not look good - certainly not if you listen to the professionals who get paid for coordinating the emergency response in the face of a monster like Hurricane Isabel. Read more ...
East Coast residents brace for arrival of Isabel
WASHINGTON - Hurricane Isabel was churning yesterday on course for a potentially destructive landfall along the Atlantic seaboard, as U.S. Coast Guard officials repositioned rescue vessels and nervous residents descended on hardware stores and food markets from the Carolinas to Maryland. Read more ...
Isabel aims for center of coast
With weather forecasters all but certain Hurricane Isabel will strike the central Atlantic coast late this week, state and local governments up and down the Eastern Seaboard are bracing for what is expected to be an extremely dangerous storm. Read more ...
Hurricane Isabel regains Category 5 strength
MIAMI - Hurricane Isabel's sustained winds increased to 160 mph yesterday as the Category 5 hurricane swirled ominously closer to the East Coast. Read more ...
Isabel upgraded to Category 5, on course to hit Florida next week
Hurricane Isabel intensified into a rare and dreaded Category 5 monster last night, packing winds of 160 mph, and continued lumbering west across the Atlantic toward the U.S. mainland. Read more ...
Florida spared from heavy rain as tropical storm weakens
PUNTA GORDA, Fla. - Most of Florida was spared the heavy rain that forecasters believed Tropical Storm Henri would bring yesterday, as the system weakened into a tropical depression and moved quickly across the peninsula. Read more ...
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