Gov. Martin O'Malley met with members of the Maryland Army and Air National Guard deploying to Louisiana yesterday to help with the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav. Fifty-five members of the Maryland Guard will be on a 15-day deployment to coordinate aircraft flying in for relief efforts: 45 Guardsmen will be in Baton Rouge, and 10 will be in Alexandria, La. The deployment comes in response to a cooperative agreement between states. "It looks like our prayers were answered. It's not as bad as it could have been," O'Malley told the Guardsmen yesterday morning at Warfield Air National Guard Base in Middle River. As they assist with the aftermath of Gustav, Maryland officials are watching the development of Tropical Storm Hanna, which is in the Caribbean and potentially could bring high winds and rain to the East Coast this week. Richard Muth, Maryland Emergency Management Agency director, said his agency conducted conference calls with local jurisdictions about Tropical Storm Hanna. And behind Hanna, Tropical Storm Ike is brewing in the Atlantic."Seems like we're standing in the middle of a bowling alley," O'Malley said. In addition to Maryland National Guard, Red Cross volunteers and a 26-member medical strike team headed from Maryland to Louisiana.
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