Saturated by summer rain, Md. vulnerable to flooding

Deluge from a hurricane would have no place to go

"After all the work we've done on restoration, that would be a devastating hit," he said.

Plants on land can be hit hard too. The Maryland Department of Agriculture warned yesterday of the potential for heavy crop damage from rain and wind.

From a hydrological standpoint, Isabel could not be arriving at a worse time. Groundwater is high, and the soil is so saturated that air-filled caskets popped out of the ground last week in a cemetery on Virginia's Eastern Shore.

Streams throughout Maryland yesterday were running higher than 75 percent of previous readings on that date, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. A few streams in Cecil County were setting records.

"If you live by an area that is prone to flooding and it starts to rain hard, it's a good idea to keep an eye on things, keep track of what's going on and prepare for quick reactions if necessary," Warner said.

At the Conowingo hydroelectric dam on the Susquehanna River, utility operators were tracking the storm and testing the dam's 50 floodgates. They worked, officials said.

For Harry Wujek, a resident of Baltimore County's low-lying Millers Island for 25 years, storms and flooding are a part of life when your back windows face the Chesapeake Bay.

"In 1979 they evacuated the island," Wujek said, "and the flood line went above the seats of my cars. We do have a southerly exposure to the bay, so I guess all of it will be up to Mother Nature ... she has the final say."

At Baltimore's Department of Public Works, crews were clearing storm drains and urging residents to do the same.

"If you see trash in the gutter, pick it up. If you see trash covering the storm drain, sweep it up and throw it away," said public works spokesman Kurt L. Kocher. "We need everybody to help us out with this."

Maryland's last encounter with a hurricane was four years ago today, after Hurricane Floyd's center made landfall near Wilmington, N.C., then veered northeast across the Delmarva Peninsula and up the coast. Floyd brought more than 8 inches of rain and gusts above 60 mph to Baltimore. It closed schools and many businesses for two days. Thousands of trees fell and ripped down power lines, leaving 600,000 homes in Maryland without electricity.

But Floyd's biggest impact was flooding. More than 10 inches of rain fell in some areas, inundating basements, streets and low-lying areas.

Six hundred people fled North East, in Cecil County, when the North East River spilled over its banks. One hundred more were evacuated from Crisfield, where wind and high tides caused flooding downtown. The town of Ewell, on Smith Island, and Havre de Grace, on the Susquehanna, also were under water.

But even "weak" storms can produce historic flood damage. In June 1972, Agnes made landfall on the Florida panhandle and was downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it crossed the Virginia Capes and strengthened off shore.

Its heavy rains - up to 16 inches at Washington Dulles International Airport - produced flooding that caused tremendous damage from Virginia to Pennsylvania. The price tag in Maryland and the District of Columbia totaled $482 million in today's dollars. There were 21 storm deaths.

Nationally, Agnes caused $15 billion damage in 2003 dollars and was blamed for 122 deaths.

Sun staff writers Joe Nawrozki and Howard Libit contributed to this article.