Preparations begin for the newest Hurricane Season in Southern Maryland - Amid Facts and Fiction

Mandatory hurricane training begins for locals and come downers.

A Southern Maryland hurricane concert venue.

A come downer is an outsider who don't belong.

George Washington was born just across the Potomac River from here.

We don't much adhere to his tell no lies philosophy.

Two daughters of our founder married George Washington's Great Grandfather.

The bigger the flood up river the more materials we get for our homes.

Southern Maryland is an hour drive from the Confederate Capital Richmond.

Southern Maryland is the same distance to the Union Capital of Washington, DC.

On September 13, 1814 local resident Francis Scott Key wrote a poem.

When it was set to music it became The Star Spangled Banner.

It was made our national anthem in 1931.

Southern Maryland first colonists arrive 1634.

Watermen rule the waters of Southern Maryland.

  

On occasion the watermen can dress to dine.

Land for the nation's capital was donated by Southern Marylanders.

Southern Maryland was overrun twice by British troops.

In the early 20th century there was one liquor still every square mile.

The largest manhunt in history could not find John Wilkes Booth here.

Arnie?  This ain't that Hollywood.

Coltons Point is the oldest continually occupied chartered town

in the Continental United States.

Southern Maryland was the first colony in the world

guaranteeing religious freedom to all. 

CPT Twit - Reporting from Hurricane Joaquin Part 2. - Potomac River Tidal Basin - Coltons Point, Maryland

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Remember the monster hurricane about to destroy the east coast of the USA last Friday?

Remember the spaghetti chart showing all the possible places it could hit the USA?

 
Well here is where it went after all the people on the east coast were scared to death with dire predictions of the fury of the storm.  Not to Washington DC, not New York City, nor Philadelphia, Baltimore, Norfolk or even Hilton Head, but to London as in England did this wayward hurricane   go racing across the sea, exactly the opposite direction from the spaghetti charts we saw all week.

By my count that is about the 20th time the weather service people caught the attention and ratings of the unsuspecting public with emergency bulletins of a monster historic storm headed our way.  Only twice in the past ten years have such storms even hit here, Katrina and Sandy, both of which cost a huge amount of money and lives.

Yet every few weeks the weather stations decide they need to capture the television ratings so they pick out a storm to feature and promise it will wreak destruction for the next year.  Of course, the warning continues until all the stores have sold out their emergency supplies when miraculously, just like Joaquin this past weekend, the storm vanishes and people are left with thousands of dollars in emergency supplies and food.

Do you think it is an accident, or coincidence?

Remember, all those stores selling out their merchandise are advertisers on the very channels predicting the storm.  The worse the prediction, the more money the station gets in revenue.

I would suggest a Congressional investigation of whether there are conflicts of interest in this false storm hype that financially benefits the storm channels, but then nothing would ever get done.

After billions of dollars spent on super computers and high tech equipment and new weather equipment and jet planes to chase the storms, my grandfather sitting on his front porch had a far better result in predicting storms.

Add weather reporting to the professions with the worst reputation, they earned it.

Of course one of the 12 states that were supposed to be paralyzed did get it bad, South Carolina, but not from the wayward hurricane but from being trapped between a High and Low weather pattern leaving parts of the state with 27 inches or more of rain.  In fact, more rain fell in 48 hours than the state usually gets in one year.

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Reporting from Hurricane Joaquin - Potomac River Tidal Basin - Coltons Point, Maryland

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How often do I get a chance to show you where Coltons Point is located? Never.  Of course I do write about St. Clement's Island which is a few hundred feet out in the water from Coltons Point and it was the site of the pilgrim landing in 1634.

Once the settlers decided the Indians lining the shore and watching them were not hostile, they moved from the island to the shore and St. Clement's Manor was formed.  At the time the Manor territory included Washington, D.C. to Philadelphia and reached well into New Jersey.

All you need to remember is that Coltons Point is the oldest continuously occupied chartered community in the continental United States, we have now been here for 381 years.  Of course Jamestown, Virginia (1608) and Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts (1620) were the first two landings of pilgrims but neither settlement survived through the end of the 1600's, just Colton Point.

So I moved down here about a dozen years ago to write books since there is nothing else to do here and this weekend I will be celebrating my fourth hurricane in the Potomac Tidal basin.  I came from landlocked Iowa and I have a lot of friends back in Iowa and Nebraska so I thought I would give you a running account of the impact of Hurricane Joaquin.

As you can see from the maps, we are just up river from the point where the Potomac River hits the Chesapeake Bay.  For a frame of reference, you should know the Potomac is up to seven miles wide at this point, and over 100 feet deep.

My house sits between the River and a small inlet, or bay, less than 100 feet from the water either way.  From my porch I can see both bodies of water and from the second floor I can see much more of the river.

St. Clement's Island in horizon

As part of the tidal basin, we get ocean tides all the way up past Washington, D.C., which is about 65 miles by water up river.  Here in the Point it is common to get 4 foot tides daily. However, two days ago the weather in the ocean began pushing the water up the bay and river and today all the docks here are underwater, and we still have 72 hours of storms ahead of us.

St. Clement's Lighthouse and Cross

My intent is to file reports as long as the weather allows.  Winds are one problem here since all electric lines are above water.  Flooding is not so big a problem since the river is just a few hundred feet away and no one in their right mind has a place with a basement.  You see, we are only about 5-10 feet above sea level.

A typical hurricane will flood the roads coming to Coltons Point, and cut off access from where I live to the north and south ends of the community, isolating a handful of houses into a temporary island. Water saturation or tress falling generally take out the electric, cable and phone lines leaving us pretty much unable to communicate or get out.

If the eye of the hurricane remains far enough offshore we may not get the high winds, which have been over 100 MPH in the earlier storms.  Trees can still fall if their roots are underwater for a long period of time.  The surrounding area from Frederickburg, Virginia to Annapolis have already received over 6 inches of rain with major flooding so we can expect the runoff from up the river.

So that is the situation and I will be posting occasional updates as long as we have electric power.
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You Can Make A Difference in the Environment - Help Restore the Bay

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Once upon a time, about 375 years ago, the first colonists to arrive in Maryland sailed up the Potomac River and came to St. Clements Island and Huron Island right beside it and there they watched in amazement as hundreds of magnificent Blue Huron arose in flight at the intrusion of the settlers.

The islands were covered with marsh grass and surrounded by pristine beaches with wildlife as far as the eye could see. At this point in the Potomac the River is over 7 miles wide, just before reaching the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.





Today much of St. Clements Island has disappeared while Huron Island remains underwater except in extremely low tide. The Blue Huron still remain but in greatly reduced numbers. Civilization still is limited in this magnificent wetlands but upriver the ravages of civilization floating downstream have nearly wiped out the marshes, the oyster beds, the crabs and clams.

The government, state and federal, have realized the danger of this environment disaster and have spent nearly $6 billion trying to restore the watershed to the Chesapeake Bay but so far little has been achieved. Still it is not too late to atone for our prior environmental mistakes.





Some citizens of Coltons Point have enrolled in the Maryland Bay Restoration program to begin the long process of cleaning up the Bay and restoring the incredible environmental and ecological balance that was long neglected. Even if you have a working septic system it is still destroying the waterways with nitrogen discharges.

The Bay Restoration program is a state grant program to upgrade septic systems in the Chesapeake watershed with environmentally friendly nitrogen reduction systems, a move that will directly contribute to restoring the wetlands and water life that was once so abundant that it supplied much of the fish, crab, oysters and clams consumed on the east coast.




The cost to the home owner is negligible, the value to the future is beyond measurement. It is one of the steps needed to bring back the ecological balance of the Bay area by reducing the pollution from septic systems, not only the bacteria but the excessive nitrogen which destroys the natural environment.

New environmental systems now in use in Coltons Point have recorded a 92% reduction in nitrogen discharges into the river and Bay, an astonishing number when the goal of the program was a 50% reduction. Nearly 100% of the cost is paid by the Bay Restoration program and the Southern Maryland counties are competing for the grant funds.

So far St. Mary's County is far behind Calvert and Charles Counties in participating in this program which is a travesty as any money not used in St. Mary's goes to the other counties. One of few government programs that is a direct benefit to the people and the environment and a program that will greatly impact on the legacy we leave for future generations, the County must do far more to support the citizens and make sure St. Mary's people get their fair share of the funds.





However, you need not wait for the creaky wheels of county government to turn, for you can directly apply to the state for participation and we urge everyone to try, as everyone benefits from restoring the Chesapeake Bay. Be a responsible citizen. You can make a difference. Contact the state at the following site and apply for participation. Email is far faster than phone calls. If you need help you can call one of the approved contractors by calling:

Joe Gonzales or Peggy O'Brien
Concepts in Building, Inc.
Phone 410-326-6262

The official state online application site is as follows:

Maryland Department of the Environment
Bay Restoration Site:

http://www.mde.state.md.us/Water/CBWRF/osds/brf_bat_process.asp

Stand up and do your part to clean up our wetlands and restore nature.