Hurricane Irene

As much of the region continues to recover from closed roads, downed power lines and other remnants of Hurricane Irene, Carroll County Public Schools officials said Monday that the school system will open tomorrow, Tuesday, August 30, on time and as scheduled - with two exceptions. Hampstead Elementary School and Century High School will not open on Tuesday due to power outages at those two schools, according to school system officials. There was no immediate word on when they would open.

From the Maryland Weather blog : Hurricane Irene, packing 110 mph winds, heavy rain and a 4 to 8-foot storm surge, continues to bear down on eastern North Carolina, southeastern Virginia and Maryland this morning. Hurricane Warnings now stretch from North Carolina to New Jersey, including the Maryland and Delaware resorts. Baltimore and the entire Western Shore of Maryland - and the Eastern Shore inland from the beaches, are under a Tropical Storm Warning. Tropical storm conditions are now expected by Saturday from Baltimore, Howard and Montgomery counties, south and east.Irene severity The National Weather Service forecast office in Sterling, Va. says winds at BWI-Marshall Airport will pick up Saturday afternoon, with sustained winds increasing to 24 to 29 mph Saturday, gusting to 34. Saturday night, winds will increase to between 37 and 47 mph, gusting to 54 mph. The Western Shore region should also be prepared for 6 to 8 inches of rain through Sunday, with more to the east.

As BGE continues Hurricane Irene restoration efforts, we want to thank our customers for their patience and understanding. This storm, which is similar to 2003's Hurricane Isabel, caused nearly the same amount of power outages resulting from massive trees and tree limbs falling onto our lines and equipment, yet we expect to have all power restored to those customers impacted by Irene in less time than it took to restore power during Isabel. Despite the fact that we have restored nearly 80 percent of those who lost power within 72 hours of the storm's passing, we understand that those customers who remain without power are frustrated, particularly as their day-to-day activities continue to be impacted.

John Minutella rushed through the doors of Ace Hardware in Waverly on Friday evening, his shirt dampened with sweat and face flushed red. "Please tell me you have batteries and flashlights," he pleaded to anyone who would listen. "Please tell me yes. " The response: blank stares. Then a salesman, Anthony Williams, spoke up, looking toward an empty shelf. "I can tell you where they used to be. " As people crowded stores across the Baltimore region looking for storm necessities in preparation for Hurricane Irene, the demand for batteries reached a fever pitch and seemed to outpace the clamoring for bread and bottled water.

If a hurricane threatens to barrel up the Chesapeake Bay in the next month, many Marylanders will watch the forecast with dread. Memories of spending days without power after Hurricane Irene and the June derecho are fresh and painful. Utilities such as Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. watch the forecast, too, readying forces to assess and repair damage to the grid. To many angry customers, though, utilities' preparations appeared to be lacking in recent storms. But what if there was a way to accurately pinpoint how many power outages a storm might cause?

Just over a day after it finished a massive effort to restore power knocked out by Hurricane Irene, BGE said it had returned electricity to more than 23,000 customers affected by Tuesday's heavy rains. Outages began Tuesday morning, the utility said, adding that it expected new outages to continue until the heavy rains leave Central Maryland. About 2,600 customers remained without power at 5 p.m. Tuesday, BGE said. Baltimore Gas & Electric warned that trees weakened by Irene could fall on power lines and other equipment even after the rains end. Irene caused 750,000 BGE customers to lose power, according to the utility, which came under fire from ratepayers and public officials over its preparedness and response.

If you were lucky enough to be spared damage by Hurricane Irene, don't rest on your laurels. Take a minute now --- especially with the long weekend upon us --- to get ready for the *next* natural disaster that could potentially trigger an insurance claim. Take Eileen's advice from her column and put together a home inventory. The Insurance Information Institute offers Know Your Stuff software , which stores the information online. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners also offers home inventory apps for iPhone and Android handsets . Use your phone's camera to capture images of your stuff, along with bar codes and receipts.

Is there anyone else out there in America who is absolutely sick of hearing every detail about the recent earthquake, and now Hurricane Irene? The only reason we are not still hearing about the earthquake is because it happened too fast for advance coverage, and was overtaken by advance coverage of the hurricane. Yes, it has been an unusual week. But why do I need to see a reporter standing in the wind-driven surf at Ocean City , hours before the heart of the storm is there, and pointing out to me that someone's siding has come off the building already?

Thanks for Steven Grossman's wise commentary on how Michelle Bachmann, Pat Robertson, John Hagee and Rush Limbaugh have all attributed the natural disasters we've recently experienced to an unhappy God bent on punishing us for even thinking about raising taxes on the wealthy, overspending on Social Security, legalizing abortion and allowing gays to marry ("Hurricane Irene: an almighty wind?" Aug. 31). Mr. Grossman also mentioned minister Jerry Falwell's putting the blame for Osama bin Laden's terrorism on America's pagans, abortionists, feminists, gays and lesbians.

After leaving Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. customers without power for up to eight days and with a poorly functioning customer service line in the wake of Hurricane Irene, it's appalling that Constellation Energy Group would have the nerve to turn around and ask us to foot the bill for cleanup ("BGE estimates Irene response cost $81 million," Sept. 21). BGE customers already pay some of the highest utility rates in the country and have seen average rate hikes of 58 percent since 2007.