Tropical Storm Debby has once again put Annapolis on the map for reasons no one is cheering about. Historic and dangerous flooding has swept through the city, leaving residents and business owners to fend off the relentless waters. Amidst this turmoil, one woman required rescue from her car after becoming trapped on Compromise Street, a poignant reminder of nature's unyielding power. Will Sizemore took to his boat in disbelief, stating, "I've never done this before. I've never seen Annapolis this flooded before," as reported by WMAR-2 News.
The city's response to these repeated aquatic assaults has been to attempt to fortify itself as best as possible. Residents and business owners, battle-hardened by their war with the water, know to lay down sandbags and waterproof barriers. Sveinn Storm of Storm Brothers Ice Cream, as reported by CBS Baltimore, has adopted an ingenious solution. "It's like a plastic wood," Storm says. "Then what we do is put weather stripping around so all we have to do is place it against our door frame, which we've waterproofed inside, along the edges when we installed it." Storm's forethought paid off, sparing his 40-year-old business from major damage.
In a sobering statistic that highlights the increasing frequency and severity of such events, Emergency Management officials stated that the city has now experienced two top-10 worst floods in just a single year. According to FOX Baltimore, this year's earlier weather event ranks as the third worst in the city's history. The toll these events take is not just environmental but economic as well, curtailing local business operations and putting a strain on workers like the ones at Dock Street Bar and Grill who depend on key weekends for income, as Kiri Lynch expressed concern about the financial blow to her colleagues in the face of event cancellations.
Even as the waters rise to transform streets into rivers, the options to significantly halt this aquatic pushback from nature seem to be as challenging as the floods themselves. Yet, hope persists among the affected, with some looking toward the proposed City Dock project as a potential solution.
