WESTERNPORT — In the wake of last year’s flood, state officials will add Allegany County to a network that provides rapid weather monitoring and data to advance emergency preparedness.
Maryland Secretary of Emergency Management Russell Strickland announced the news Friday at Potomac Fire Company No. 2, where several public officials spoke on the anniversary of a flood that destroyed much of the area.
Strickland described a system of weather stations strategically placed throughout the state.
“We’re working with the town of Westernport to put a mesonet station here,” he said. “It’s an effort to really try and protect life and property.”
According to mesonet.umd.edu, Maryland’s mesonet is a partnership between the University of Maryland and state emergency management department.
“Each mesonet site will measure air temperature, atmospheric pressure, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, solar radiation, rainfall, snow depth, and soil moisture and temperature at five depths, most at one-minute intervals,” the website states.
“Mesonet data will advance community risk assessment and emergency preparedness for impending extreme weather, improve regional weather forecasts by providing more accurate initial states for prediction models, and expedite post-event analysis for disaster declaration and recovery,” the website states.
‘Wonderful people’As quickly as water and mud wiped out much of the town including its library, people arrived in the flood’s aftermath to help clean debris, Westernport Mayor Judy Hamilton said.
“I don’t know where they all came from, but our streets filled with some of the most wonderful people,” she said.
Hamilton credited Westernport’s administrator, Laura Freeman Legge, for her help during and after the crisis.
She thanked the town’s staff members for their work after the flood, and Gov. Wes Moore for his support over the past year.
“No matter what I’ve called and asked (for), what I’ve needed, he has been there for us,” Hamilton said.
Moore spoke of $12 million allocated in the state’s Fiscal 2027 budget for flood recovery.
The investment included $5.5 million for Georges Creek riverbed restoration to mitigate future flood risks, $5.5 million for repairs to infrastructure and $1 million to restore the foundation and structural stability of the Westernport Library.
He alluded to the denial of Federal Emergency Management Agency help for Western Maryland after the flood.
“The thing I’ve learned to hate most about politics is politics,” Moore said.
Other speakers at the event included Allegany County Library System Board of Trustees President Renee Kniseley and U.S. Rep. April McClain Delaney.
“The road back has not been easy,” McClain Delaney said, “but we saw the best of all of you all.”