Hurricane Irene

Send info about openings and closings to healthcalendar@baltsun.com. What's open •The Maryland State Fair at the Timonium Fairgrounds will re-open Sunday at noon following an inspection of the grounds and rides. •The Town of Ocean City will reopen to the public Sunday beginning at noon. The beach will be open but access to the surf will be restricted. •The Baltimore Summer Antiques Show at the convention center in Baltimore will open at 11 a.m. Sunday.

As Hurricane Irene moves closer to Maryland, Annapolis MayorJoshua J. Cohen declared a State of Emergency within the city limits, effective 10 a.m. Friday, urging residents in low-lying areas to evacuate by Saturday afternoon. Worcester County also ordered a mandatory evacuation by 9 a.m. Saturday in the following areas: West Ocean City Sanitary Service Area (east of Herring Creek and north of Old Bridge Road); all properties east of Route 611 (Stephen Decatur Highway); and all properties in South Point (both sides of South Point Road)

Jimmy Buffett's concert Saturday night at Jiffy Lube Live has been postponed over concern about Hurricane Irene, which is already making its presence felt on the Eastern Shore. The band Journey has also postponed its Sunday night concert at the same venue because of the hurricane's threat. The 9:30 Club in Washington has also moved a concert and birthday party for godfather of go-go Chuck Brown to Sunday night. The three are just the latest live music events affected by the hurricane.

Homeowners are still evaluating damage from Hurricane Irene. Before making a claim, here are some things you should be aware of, according to the Consumer Federation of America: -     You'll likely have to pay more out of pocket. Insurers have been raising so-called hurricane deductibles where you must pay more than usual before insurance kicks in. (The Maryland Insurance Administration says it can be 5 percent, so on a $200,000 house that sustained hurricane damage you will have to pay $10,000 before your insurer pays anything.)

Some Baltimore grocery stores that lost power in the hurricane also lost product. The Baltimore City Heath Department is concluding its post-hurricane inspections of Baltimore grocery stores, according to Brian M.  Schleter, the Public information officer for the department. The department had, as of Tuesday afternoon, completed inspections of 109 food facilities, 33 of which had lost power. Some stores were directed to destroy any perishable goods that may have been affected; others, like Eddie's or Roland Park, made the decision on their own after sustained outages.

It was around dinnertime September 2003 when Hurricane Isabel wreaked havoc on the Chesapeake Bay, causing some of the worst flooding in 70 years. Waters reached up to eight feet above normal tides. Thousands had to be evacuated. Property damage reached over $400 million inMaryland alone. In its aftermath,Fells Point was devastated. "I was up fortysome hours going around the neighborhood helping people move stuff," said Ron Furman, owner of Max's Taphouse. "It was wild. A lot of work.

First, an earthquake rattled Carol Boehlein in her Southeast Baltimore rowhouse. Now Hurricane Irene is threatening to blow her windows in. That's why Boehlein and her husband, Bernard, were at a Home Depot in Southeast Baltimore on Friday afternoon with their handyman, buying plywood. They planned to nail the boards to the windows of the house they've lived in for 40 years. "After what happened with the earthquake," Boehlein said, "I don't take nothing for granted. " Across the Baltimore region, people were preparing for the hurricane, the brunt of which is expected to lash Maryland Saturday night and Sunday morning.

Officials of the Maryland State Fair in Timonium on Saturday said they had closed the fair's midway rides and games at 3 p.m. on Saturday, and that the buildings at the fair would close at 5 p.m. due to the inclement weather as Hurricane Irene approaches the Baltimore area. The rest of the rest of the fairgrounds will close for the day at 6:30 p.m., officials said, canceling the slate of activities planned for Saturday evening. The fairgrounds, on York Road, are still scheduled to reopen on Sunday morning, Aug. 28, at regularly scheduled times, officials said.

The state, 13 Maryland county governments and some private nonprofit organizations are now eligible for federal recovery assistance from damage from Hurricane Irene. President Barack Obama declared a major federal disaster Friday on the Eastern Shore and in Cecil, Harford, Calvert and St. Mary's counties to supplement recovery efforts for costs and damage incurred between Aug. 24 and Sept. 5. Irene made landfall Aug. 27 on the North Carolina's Outer Banks and swept north just 10 miles off the Maryland beaches.

The problem: A West Baltimore sidewalk damaged after a tree was toppled by Hurricane Irene has not been repaired. The backstory: Irene wreaked plenty of havoc across the Baltimore area, taking down tree limbs and utility poles. One street tree that fell in the 4700 block of Dartford Ave., in the Tremont neighborhood, managed to cause thousands of dollars worth of damage to Paul Bourne's car. Once city crews removed the log about four days later, he was able to get his vehicle repaired.