Hurricane Sandy will have a significant rain and wind impact starting Sunday night regardless of where the center of the storm makes landfall, Baltimore County Emergency Management Director Mark Hubbard said.
“This is a huge storm forecast to intensify as it merges with a winter storm system,” Hubbard said in a press release. “We should be prepared for a long-lasting event with several days of disruption to our daily lives.”
Hubbard said county officials received an update at 9 a.m. from the National Weather Service, and county citizens should expect wind damage, power outages, heavy rain, inland flooding and a storm surge along the bay.
“Baltimore County wil begin to feel the impacts tonight. Conditions will deteriorate through the night,” Hubbard said in the press release. “We will feel the most serious impacts on Monday and expect the storm to last into the early morning hours Wednesday.”
Hubbard issued these reminders:
- Citizens who live in flood-prone areas along the coast or along inland creeks and streams should consider relocating. Coastal flooding is predicted, but the severity is not known and emergency responders may not be able to rescue those living in these areas.
- Roads will flood. Officials are asking drivers to stay off the roads once the storm starts, but if you must drive, avoid driving through standing water.
- When traffic signals go out, the intersection should be treated as a four-way stop.
- Plans should be made immediately for family members who use power-dependent life-sustaining equipment.
- Generators should be placed outside, at least 15 feet from the house.
- Trees that fall on private property are the owner’s responsibility. Trees that fall on public property and roads are the county’s responsibility.
- Baltimore does not provide dry ice or sand bags. See the post from Oct. 26 about information about where to obtain dry ice.
Baltimore County officials will provide updates from Twitter at @BACOemergency.
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Sadly, that does not state the entire truth. The responsibility to remove trees on private property does not necessarily belong to the original tree owner. Once the tree is down, it then belongs to whatever yard it lands on. Thus if your neighbor's tree falls on your home, it becomes you and your insurer's problem, not the original tree owner.
Baltimore County has no power in this regard. If Baltimore County tried to change hundreds of years of practice by the insurers, the insurers would simply stop writing in Baltimore county, They have come to this way of handling things, and it has worked. In any loss, some company will pay the claim, one way or another. This is how they have agreed to take care of it. Leave it alone.
If you know anything about the Insurance business and traditions, and they're not necessarily simple, you know that modern insurance regulations have been developed over hundreds of years, and for the most part, they have kept the insurance industry stable and profitable. The entire industry has agreed that if the tree at 927 Elm Street falls into the yard of 925 Elm Street, the property insurance company that insures 925 Elm will pay the claim. The tree falling is considered an "Act of God". Trees are good. A good canopy of trees does much to stablilze property values. They don't want anyone to fear growing a tree because of the damage it might cause 50 years in the future. There is more to the entire culture of Insurance than simply dollars and cents.
BTW, this same neighbor currently has several empty garbage cans in his yard, as well as an old door and a window leaning against the back of his house. I guess when those items fly over to my property later today, that will be my problem, too.
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