While the current National Hurricane Center projected path have what is now Tropical Storm Isaac hitting Southwest Florida next week, Southern Maryland is not out of the woods. There is a chance the storm could move up the east coast. Issac is expected to strengthen into a hurricane.
“If it goes over most of the islands likelihood of a major hurricane seems low (not impossible) some of the trends is more the southern route south of the islands and that puts it Florida or the Gulf but there are a lot of things that can change,” Brian Neudorff, chief meteorologist for KMVT-TV, said. “If you are anywhere from Texas to the northeast United States, I say watch this storm. No one is in the clear.”
Issac is currently projected to hit the Southwest Florida and Tampa Bay region. However, no tropical storm or hurricane that has ever been where Issac is currently located has ever taken the path that the National Hurricane Center currently projects.
Hurricane Ivan hit Florida in 2004, but its effects were felt in Southern Maryland. The remnants of Ivan spawned tornadoes in Virginia and Maryland. Two women were killed in Maryland. Tropical Storm Lee also brought devastating impacts to the Southern Maryland area. Lee made landfall in Louisiana last year, but the remnants of the slow moving tropical system sat over Southern Maryland for days, dumping over 20 inches of rain which caused sinkholes to make roads impassable. The rain caused a sinkhole that caused a near three month closure of the Allen’s Fresh Bridge on MD-234.
The threat of Isaac comes one year after Hurricane Irene whipped the east coast, knocking out power in the region and causing wind damage all over the southern portions of the region. Irene was slightly weaker than the Category two Hurricane Isabel that hit the region in 2003.
Earlier this year, a “derecho” hit the region, causing wind damage in Waldorf and La Plata and knocking power out to tens of thousands in the region, mostly in Charles County.
