February 07, 2010|By Baltimore Sun staff
"That could happen again," said Scher, but he noted that the cruise line didn't end up having any more no-shows than usual for that cruise.
Scher said beyond the port, cruisegoers may be affected by cancellations and delays at Baltimore Washington Thurgood Marshall Airport, as well as how quickly state highways and roads are cleared. He said guests headed to the port should allow enough travel time, based on where they are coming from. As for those passengers returning from the Bahamas, Scher said "they may want to get back on the ship."
By Michelle Deal Zimmerman
Southbound I-95 clogged in Howard
Updated 12:53: p.m. Saturday: Southbound Interstate 95 is clogged from Route 175 in Howard County, north to at least Route 100, according to Baltimore Sun reporter Michael Dresser, who is monitoring road conditions at the state highway operations center in Hanover.
Dresser reports that three tractor-trailers, three sport utility vehicles and three passenger vehicles were involved in the clog-inducing tangle, which began some time before 10 a.m. The highway was jammed for hours, highway officials said.
By Baltimore Sun staff
Storm is on track to be largest in Baltimore history
Updated 12:46 p.m. Saturday:Just after noon today, the National Weather Service reported that the Storm of 2010 was on track to become the biggest snowstorm in Baltimore history.
At 11:45 a.m., weather observers at Thurgood Marshall Baltimore- Washington International Airport reported 26.5 inches of snow on the ground. That was only .3 inches short of the 26.8 inch record at the airport during the Presidents Day storm of February 2003, according to the Weather Service.
The airport is forecast to receive an additional three to six inches before the storm ends this evening. The weather service says it will issue a report as soon as the record is reached.
Generally, 24 to 32 inches have fallen north of a line that runs from Annapolis to Washington to Petersburg, W.Va.
By Paul West
Howard Co. executive cancels Fla. vacation
Updated 11:56 a.m. Saturday: As dire predictions of heavy snow filled the weather reports Thursday evening, Howard County Executive Ken Ulman faced a wrenching decision. Should he go ahead with a family vacation they've been planning for a year in Miami with his parents and his brother Doug, not to mention wife Jaki and their two daughters, Maddie, 8, and Lilly, 4? Or should he stay home to manage the storm response?
After a four-hour meeting with county safety officials, Ulman finally decided to stay on the job. "This seemed to be so significant, I decided to stay," he said.
His daughters were very disappointed, he said. "They're only starting to talk to me now," he said at 11:30 a.m., speaking from the county's Emergency Operations Center in the Robey Public Safety Training Facility near I-70 in Alpha Ridge. Once they woke up Saturday and saw how much snow there was, they began to understand this was a special event, Ulman said. Jaki was more understanding, he said. "That's what happens when you're married to a county executive," he reported she said.
The family had trip insurance, however, and "we'll make it up to them," he said.
The executive's physical presence in this kind of emergency may seem like a mostly symbolic thing in this age of mobile communications, but Ulman said it is more. "I do think it's important when it's this severe to be sitting around the table with the police chief and the fire chief."
Meanwhile Kevin Enright, the county's communications director, said county police and firefighters have pulled about 35 stranded drivers from vehicles stuck in snow all over the county. One man clearing snow on a small Bobcat front-tend loader at 3 a.m. in Gateway Business Park suffered a medical collapse that led to the machine overturning, pinning him underneath for a time. Enright, who spend the night at the center, said firefighters rescued him, but it took a long time to get him to Howard County General Hospital.
Ulman said more than 30 government vehicles also had to be pulled from snowbanks through the night, and a plow is assigned to each fire station for emergency medical runs.
People must understand, he said, "it's going to take us a while, maybe mid to late Monday" to get all the streets plowed. Meanwhile Elkridge has been declared the snow-depth champion of the state, Ulman said, with 34 inches by 11 a.m and counting.
"I love Howard County being first in schools and libraries," the executive said, "but not in depth of snow."
By Larry Carson
Big Storm gets big, strong coverage on local TV
Updated 11:45 a.m. Saturday: It's a weekend of air mattresses, sleeping bags, couches, pets and even some kids in TV newsrooms as Baltimore's network owned and affiliate stations went to "all hands on deck" to try to cover one of the area's biggest storms in decades.
