Flooding

The National Weather Service issued coastal flood warnings for many parts of Maryland until 8 a.m. Wednesday. The affected areas are southern Baltimore County and Harford, Anne Arundel, Calvert, Charles and St. Mary's counties. Baltimore and Harford Counties should expect high tide levels 2 feet above normal. The other areas are expected to see levels 1 to 2 feet higher than usual. The tides will likely bring inundation of shoreline areas and large waves at high tide could make flooding worse, according to the weather service.

The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America released information on what consumers need to know about flood insurance: Regular homeowner's insurance covers damage from a storm, but not  from flooding. You need to buy a policy from the National Flood Insurance Program to protect your house and property. (You can buy it through an insurance agent.) Flood insurance covers physical losses from flood or flood-related erosion caused by waves or currents. The typical policy covers structural damage and damage to to air conditioners, furnaces, water heaters and any clean-up required.

Water sloshed out of the Annapolis Harbor before dawn Tuesday, flooding the immediate City Dock area with a foot of water by 6 a.m. But city officials estimated that high tide could crest at 4.8 feet and stay high past 4 p.m. By 4 a.m., crews reported flooding there had begun. City officials were warning people to stay away from the City Dock, as well as other waterfront areas that could be submerged because of the wind-whipped high tide. "City crews are watching the high tide closely," said city spokeswoman Rhonda Wardlaw.

The lone occupant in any of the cottages along Broad Creek in northern Harford County refused to leave Monday evening, when county volunteers went door to door to urge any residents to evacuate because of rising waters from Hurricane Sandy, the county government reported shortly before 7 p.m. Monday. "Members of the Harford County Tactical Rescue Team and Darlington Volunteer Fire Company, with support from National Guard resources, are currently going door-to-door at the cottages along Broad Creek in proximity to Flintville Road, and asking the inhabitants to evacuate the residences if they have not already done so," the county said in a news release issued Monday evening.

Governor Martin O'Malley said Maryland was experiencing "America's weather in miniature" as the remnants of Sandy approached the state bringing blizzards in the west, tidal flooding in the east and wind and rain everywhere else. "This is goin to be a long night," Governor O'Malley said. "The next 12 hours of this storm will likely be the most intense. " Snow was already falling in the western-most parts of the state at 10 p.m. Monday and blizzard warnings were in effect, with 7-to-11 inches of snow forecast overnight in Oakland.

To keep its animals safe, the Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter (BARCS) moved all of its dogs and cats to a temporary home at 1st Mariner Arena on Monday morning. Because the shelter lies in a flood-prone part of South Baltimore, BARCS convened a team of volunteers for the emergency evacuation. In a matter of hours, they safely moved more than 100 cats and nearly that many dogs. The animals will ride out the storm at the arena.

By Monday evening, Hurricane Sandy's remains surrounded Ocean City . From the east, the evening high tide, a full moon and a 7-foot storm surge sent waves crashing over dunes in some spots. To the west, a white-capped Assawoman Bay overflowed onto the narrow barrier island. Gusts whipping to near-hurricane force turned gaps between high rises into wind tunnels. A decision by town officials to close the Route 90 bridge to nonemergency traffic at 5 p.m. meant there was nothing for those who stayed behind to do but wait, or call for help.

Hurricane Sandy churned about 290 miles off the Mid-Atlantic coast Sunday night, with the National Hurricane Center reporting that the monster storm was expected to come ashore with near-hurricane-force winds and potentially "life-threatening" storm surge flooding. The storm was curling north on Sunday night, churning toward land on Monday with the eye of the storm approaching the coast Monday night, the weather service said in its latest update. The storm remains deadly powerful, with sustained winds near 75 miles per hour and even stronger gusts.

The National Weather Service's 2 p.m. update shows Hurricane Sandy producing tropical storm-force winds in the Atlantic as it nears Carolinas. The storm is still about 300 miles off the coast of Charleston, S.C., with tropical storm conditions expected to reach the Carolinas this afternoon. The system is forecasted to move parallel with the U.S. coast through the weekend. A storm surge between four and eight feet is possible from Ocean City to the Connecticut border with Rhode Island.

In a city struggling to rebuild its population, construction cranes would seem to be a welcome sign. But office, shopping and housing projects in the works in Northwest Baltimore have some residents worried about the impact of development on a degraded stream that flows through their neighborhoods on its way to the harbor. Cranes tower over an 11-acre tract on Wabash Avenue, where the Social Security Administration plans to move 1,600 workers from the federal agency's aging downtown headquarters.