Frederick County Continues To Recover From Heavy Rains, Flooding

Officials encourage residents & businesses to take the post-storm assessment survey.

 

Frederick, Md (KM). The heavy rains and flooding which pummeled Frederick County last week are long gone, but their affects continue to be felt. . During her public information briefing on Thursday, County Executive Jan Gardner said she toured the county earlier in the day with FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) and MEMA (Maryland Emergency Management Agency) officials, mostly in the Middletown Valley area.

She encouraged residents and business owners to go on line and take the post-storm assessment survey, and describe some of the losses they’ve experienced from the storm. That will help when the county applies for assistance in paying for repairs. “To qualify for federal funds and Small Business Administration funds, we have to demonstrate damage  in the county,” Gardner says.

“As of this morning {Thurs},. we had had 298 residential reports. And the estimated structural loss from that was $7.7-million. The estimated personal property loss of $1.8-million. That’s just from 298 residential homeowners, ” says Gardner. “We have 12 commercial businesses  report so far with estimated structural loss of over $700,000, and estimated loss of furnishing and inventory of just under $600,000.”

Residents and business owners who haven’t taken the survey have until June 15th to do so. The website is www.FrederickCountyMD.gov/recover.

At one time during the storm and afterward, 21 roads in the county were closed. But Gardner said most of those roads have reopened. “Summantown Road,which is a road we drove down today {Thurs}. remains closed between Paul Rudy {Road} between Catoctin Creek. And Poffenberger Road, another road I went out to look at today {Thurs},. has reopened. But there are jersey barriers in place because there has been a big washout of slope there, which is just quite stunning. The road has slid down,” she says.

At her briefing, Gardner said Catholic Church Road, Gapland Road and Old Middletown Road in two places are closed to all but emergency vehicles. “About 80% to 90% of our roads right now are open. But there’s still a lot of work that has to be done around them,” says Gardner.”I think it will be a couple of months before everything is put back in place. But It depends on the situation.”

On another topic, Gardner announced that Frederick County has been  honored by  the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems,  as the Outstanding EMS Agency in the state. “Now MIEMSS oversees  all components of the state EMS system. Each year, MIEMMS presents the Stars of Life Awards. This year,they selected Frederick County for our long list of achievements over the past year. So we’re very proud to receive this award,” she says.

Some of those achievements include a national accreditation of its  EMS-paramedic training; working with law enforcement agencies on the specialize active assailant training and deployment for medics; a pre-hospital  ultrasouknd program, and mobile integrated health program, which works with those who “overuse” the hospital emergency room to  help them better manage their health care; and only call 911 during a true emergency.

“While the recognition goes to the organization, it is about the people that make this happen,” says Chief Tom Owens with the Division of Fire and Rescue Services. “And we are blessed with some of the most innovative and capable fire and EMS leaders in our system that I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with.”

 

By Kevin McManus