A major cleanup effort has been underway in southern Maryland since a tornado touched down in the town of La Plata in Charles County (about 30 miles from Washington, D.C.) on April 28. Originally rated a 5 on the Fujita Tornado Damage Scale, National Weather Service experts gave the storm a final rating of an F4 after further inspection. An F4 rating is characterized by wind speeds of 207 to 260 mph. Officials say this particular storm reached those speeds only for a minute or two.
However, the twister covered 24 mi. in Charles, Calvert and Dorchester counties, with a path 50- to 400-ft. wide in some areas. It caused more than $120 million in damages and resulted in five deaths and more than 100 injuries, according to the American Red Cross. President George W. Bush declared the three counties federal disaster areas, making individual property owners eligible for grants or low-interest loans.
Such storms are relatively rare in this area of the country. Maryland has recorded only two other F4s. On Nov. 9, 1926, a storm in La Plata killed 17 people, including 14 schoolchildren. On June 2, 1998, a tornado in the western Maryland town of Frostburg caused $5 million damage. The only reported F5 storm on the east coast occurred in 1953 in Worcester, MA, resulting in 94 deaths.
On May 6, Maryland Governor Parris N. Glendening committed $3.1 million in state funds to help business owners and residents rebuild. The funding was designated for the three counties affected by the April 28 storm, and also for Cecil County, which was hit by a minor tornado on May 2.
“The process of rebuilding homes, businesses and lives may seem overwhelming, but the residents and business owners of these devastated communities will not face this challenge alone,” said Governor Glendening. “With help from the State, the Town of La Plata will emerge from this tragedy with a stronger sense of community and a renewed vision for the future. The steps we are taking today will allow the citizens of La Plata to begin the process of piecing together their lives and help transform the Town of La Plata into a thriving business district and vibrant, walkable town center.”
The funding includes:
• $500,000 from the State Department of Transportation for streetscaping, sidewalk and road repairs, and lighting and sign improvements ($400,000 for the town of La Plata and $100,000 for other affected communities).
• $700,000 from the Catastrophic Events Contingency Fund in grants to local governments to cover costs already incurred.
• $500,000 from the State Department of Housing and Community Development in loans and grants to homeowners for repairs not covered by insurance.
• $ 1.4 million from the Department of Business and Economic Development and the Catastrophic Events Contingency Fund to provide flexible grants and loans to affected business for repairs and improvements not covered by insurance.
In addition, Governor Glendening has announced the creation of a task force to assist La Plata businesses. Known as the “Rebuild La Plata Task Force,” the 12-member group will help businesses to access the resources needed to complete recovery efforts and rebuild the downtown area. Nearly 200 businesses were damaged or destroyed.
Immediate help for businesses came from Paul Facchina of The Facchina Group, who donated a plot of his land. A 21-unit structure was set up for the purpose of leasing to local businesses with destroyed buildings, allowing them to reopen quickly.
Ironically, one of the buildings destroyed by the tornado was La Plata’s disaster operations center, the American Red Cross Charles County Chapter. However, the chapter’s director, Mike Zabko, called volunteers and set up an operations center in the parking lot of the Charles County Government Center. He said, “We got the message out to the Disaster Operation Center at headquarters in northern Virginia and Red Cross volunteers from everywhere came — Delaware, Colorado, California — you name it and they came.”
As of May 9, the Red Cross reported that they had served 34,520 meals and snacks in La Plata and provided assistance to 89 families. A local 84 Lumber Co. donated $50,000 to help the Red Cross rebuild its chapter.
According to La Plata Mayor William F. Eckman, the tornado will rearrange the phases of the town’s Vision Plan, which began about three years ago with deciding what the town should look like. Phase 4 of the plan involved changing the buildings, and was still about 15 years away.
“The tornado wiped out that area,” Mayor Eckman said, “which will move Phase 4 up to Phase 1. The buildings were all different in appearance, materials, and design. Our goal is to, whenever possible, conform with the overall vision of what the town is to look like. We want to bring them back, but in a little different form.”
Of course, the first hurdle is to complete the cleanup process, which Mayor Eckman reported is 90- to 95-percent complete. “I thought it would take three months,” he said, “but it went amazingly fast. We had major help from other municipalities — cities and towns from Garrett County to Snow Hill sent help. It was overwhelming. We had big crews from Ocean City, D.C. and the City of Baltimore. Volunteers were helping in backyards, but these crews brought people in and trucks to load. It was work we couldn’t have individual volunteers do.”
Michelle Miner, director of community development for the Town of La Plata, reported that the town hired one private contractor, Eagle Excavating, Waldorf, MD.
Equipment and operators were sent from the City of Baltimore; the Town of Ocean City; Worcester County; St. Mary County Government; Washington, D.C.; the City of Cumberland; the City of Laurel, the City of Annapolis; the City of Berlin; the City of Westminster; the Town of Aberdeen; the Town of Greenbelt; the City of Frederick; the City of Rockville; the City of College Park; the City of Oxford; the City of New Carrolton; the City of Chevy Chase; and the City of Sykesville.
David Buck, spokesperson for the Maryland Department of Transportation’s State Highway Administration (SHA) reported that at the peak time, SHA had 175 people and 180 pieces of equipment involved in the cleanup. Personnel were called in from maintenance shops in La Plata, Leonardtown, and Prince Frederick. Brawner Company, Inc. of Washington, D.C., who has an area-wide contract with SHA, also completed some work.
Over the weekend of May 12, SHA personnel were scaled back to 75 people from the La Plata shop and nearby area. Equipment also was scaled back to 80 pieces, including 35 dump trucks, 10 front-end loaders, and assorted miscellaneous pieces, such as bucket trucks, pickup trucks, flatbeds and chippers. Two large rented backhoes also are being used. According to Buck, there was no damage to roads, but minimal damage occurred to signals on 301 and Route 6. However, through the weekend of May 12, SHA had spent $2 million to account for equipment and people being used in the cleanup effort.
Maryland Department of Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari said, “The State Highway Administration, with its large fleet of heavy equipment, is uniquely able to perform an amazing range of tasks in situations like this. Many of those tasks may not fall under our normal job description, but when communities face challenges like those now facing Charles and Calvert counties, you think outside the box and help in any way you can.”
SHA also provided nine acres of land to serve as a temporary hauling site for debris. According to Charles County Emergency Management, 229,662 tons (206,695 t) of debris was moved as of Friday, May 10. During the week of May 13, they estimated that 1,500 tons (1,350 t) of debris would be moved each day. The Charles County Government Public Works Office reported that as of May 14, as much as 13,000 tons (11,700 t) of debris had been taken on to Virginia land fills, excluding what was burned in the yard waste facility. During peak times, 150 to 200 dump truck loads of trees were brought to the burn site each hour. As of Friday, May 10, there was 1,000 to 1,100 tons (900 to 990 t) of ash at the site.
Volunteers also were quick to offer their help in the effort. Officials reported that more than 1,000 people signed up to help in the first two days after the storm, including boy scout troops, church groups, community service organizations, and a group of Amish men from St. Mary’s County. Members of the Washington Redskins’ construction crew arrived with a dump truck, chains saws and water. On the second weekend after the storm, 150 to 200 people volunteered.
A spokesman from the Charles County Government Public Information Office reported that a partial list of companies from the construction industry who provided assistance free of charge or at a reduced cost included the Facchina Group from La Plata; Mona Electric Group Inc., Clinton; Allied Trailer Sales & Rental, Brandywine; Cosner Industries, Capital Heights; Wal-Mart, La Plata; Ressun Leasing Inc., Edgewood; Southern Maryland Electric Co-op, Hughesville; B & R Welder Repair, White Plains; Nextel Communications; Southern Maryland Sanitation, Mechanicsville; and WRA Storage Rentals, Mechanicsville.
Brenda Ruggiero
Brenda Ruggiero has written for CEG for over 20 years. She lives near the town of Accident in far western Maryland. Her favorite assignments so far involved interviews with Survivor’s Boston Rob and hot dog eating champion Joey Chestnut. Both were involved in construction at one time.
Brenda holds a BA in Mass Communication with a writing focus from Frostburg State University and minors in Public Relations and Political Science. She works full time as a staff writer for a weekly newspaper, the Garrett County Republican. She enjoys feature writing the most, which gives her the opportunity to talk to people and share their stories.
Brenda and her middle school sweetheart, Reuben, have been married for over 34 years and have three grown children and four cats.
Read more from Brenda Ruggiero here.
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