WESTERNPORT — The Allegany County Library System hopes to open a temporary Westernport location in November, after it was determined insurance will not cover structural damage caused by May flooding.
Lisa McKenney, interim executive director of the library system, said the structural damage to the library and remaining costs have been included in a Federal Emergency Management Agency appeal sent by Gov. Wes Moore in mid-August.
Insurance covered some damage costs, McKenney said, but “there’s a section in the front of the building where the slab was actually undermined due to the flood and there was sinking happening in one area and heaving happening in another, so those costs were not covered by our flood insurance.”
Federal aid to Western Maryland was denied in July after the Trump administration deemed the assistance unwarranted, despite the cost of damages being estimated at $33.7 million — nearly three times the state’s federal threshold for assistance.
Trish Morgan Keating, founder of the Save the Westernport Library group, has been working to keep the library open since January, when the library system’s Board of Trustees was considering closing three branches due to financial issues.
“ … it’s just so, so devastating to know that our library, now that we have saved the library, is going to be temporarily closed because it had suffered severe damage, and it was just such a hard thing to deal with,” she said.
Pop-up events at the Westernport Library began in August and will continue through October from 1 to 3 p.m. Mondays.
“The water came in through each of the doors, and made its way through and opened up the back door and chairs were floating down the street. It was awful,” said Regina Spiker, a librarian from the George’s Creek branch who occasionally works at the weekly pop-up library.
“We lost almost every single book in that library flood,” Morgan Keating said. “And not to mention all the furniture, and the electronics and the decor. We’re very hopeful in a nutshell.”
McKenney has provided the Allegany County Department of Public Works with the proof of loss estimate, the engineer’s report and the letter stating the flood insurance would not cover the damages.
“It is not known when the federal government will respond to the appeal,” McKenney said. “So, that is a question mark as far as when we’re going to hear back about a decision.”
The Department of Public Works anticipates having more details as to what the next steps are and what they anticipate the remaining costs not covered by insurance to be by October, McKenney said.
The site of the temporary location is not finalized and awaiting approval by the board.
“There’s probably been a lot of curiosity, and at some points, I think there’s been great concern, sometimes anger,” McKenney said.
“But ultimately, what I take away from it is that people care about the library in the community — they’re passionate about the presence of libraries in Allegany County.”
Westernport residents are hopeful for the FEMA funding appeal to go through this time around.
“So all of us are hopeful, yes. And we need that funding,” Morgan Keating said. “Especially, the Westernport Library does, I can speak to that.”
The Save the Westernport Library group has raised more than $83,000, Morgan Keating said.
“What we plan to do with that money is help with the flood restoration, but we’ll be purchasing books and DVDs and equipment and furniture and decor and anything that we can do to help get that library open and then remain open for decades to come,” she said.
“That’s the purpose of our group, to serve and sustain the Westernport Library.”
McKenney said the library system plans to hold a meeting in October to hear from the Westernport community about what it would want its library to look like.
The library system is also accepting donations to help rebuild the Westernport branch through givebutter.com/WesternportLibraryFloodRecovery.
“A community and public library is not just a library to our town,” Morgan Keating said. “It’s a social gathering place, a place where anyone can come in and feel safe, with no judgment.”