Marylanders were tying down and tightening up yesterday as they braced for the heavy wind, torrential rain and high water predicted to arrive today with Tropical Storm Hanna, the first such storm to menace the state since Ernesto in 2006.
Forecasters warned residents to prepare for winds today in excess of 40 mph, with 4 to 7 inches of rain; 3 to 5 feet of storm surge and "battering waves" before Hanna races off to the Northeast this evening.
Light rain began falling in Baltimore about 8:30 last night, signaling the storm's approach.
The National Weather Service posted tropical storm warnings. The governor expanded an emergency declaration to cover the entire state. State and local authorities opened their emergency operations centers, launched their hurricane plans and readied their shelters amid a flurry of snow-day-like cancellations, postponements and closings across the region as Hanna swirled up the coast.
"All in all, people are taking this storm very seriously," said Samantha Irwin, manager of the 160-slip Point Lookout Marina in St. Mary's County, where dozens of boat owners were busy yesterday moving their boats or checking their lines, and removing anything that might fly away.
"Ernesto blew the roof off one of our big covered docks," Irwin said. "You just really don't know what to expect. You have to be prepared in all aspects."
In Annapolis, the Ultimate Crab Soup Cook-Off, scheduled to heat up today under tents at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium, was postponed until Nov. 22. Karma O'Neill, the event's co-chairman, said the pop-up tents "would in a sense be turning into umbrellas, Mary Poppins-style."
In Baltimore, city officials urged residents of Fells Point and other flood-prone areas to move valuable items from basements and remove cars parked on streets close to the water. Vulnerable areas, such as Key Highway and Thames Street, will be posted and cars found parked there may be towed.
After dawdling all week near the Bahamas, Hanna was gathering strength late yesterday and taking aim at the Carolina coast, with landfall expected early this morning near the North Carolina-South Carolina border. Top sustained winds at the storm's center reached 70 mph, just below hurricane strength. Tropical storm winds extended as far as 300 miles from the center.
