Olszewski Sr: Surviving Mother Nature

What a summer we have been through! Record heat and drought for most of the time and then the rains came. It felt as if Mother Nature was exacting some kind of wrath on us.  

The flash floods of Aug. 21 hit the Dundalk area quite hard. Someone from the Department of Public Works stated it was as if the storm cloud hovered right over the Dundalk area and didn’t move for some time. A record amount of rain, along with hail, pelted us pretty good.  

And if that was not enough, an almost unheard of event happened later that week when an earthquake rumbled through causing buildings to sway and folks to think the world was coming to an end.  

Mother Nature was not through with us just yet. Hurricane Irene decided to visit. Thank goodness the winds were blowing out to the Chesapeake Bay, which prevented a lot of coastal flooding, but the power outages and wind damage to trees created havoc.  Many folks were with out power for days on end. Spoiled food became a major problem. Schools closed, some businesses shut down.  

My office was inundated with calls from residents experiencing flooded basements, sewer back ups, overflowing drainage ditches, trees down and much loss of property. I experienced some of this myself with a flooded basement. BGE did what it could to restore power, and County crews were out there addressing the storm drain problems and downed trees.  

We have had more rain since then and the ground is so saturated that it has nowhere to go. Somehow we have gotten through this. We are trying to clean up and rehab damaged property. We were in this together and as is always the case with the resilience I’ve always witnessed in my District, we made the best of it, and we helped each other and made it through.  

When the sun finally came out as it did last week for my Picnic In Park, it felt good and raised our spirits. I would like to remind folks as we continue to clean up, not to rake or blow leaves in to the gutter or street. Part of our problem during the storms was clogged up storm drains. Leaves will clog the drains or make their way to the waterways including the Chesapeake Bay. The leaves have a disastrous effect on the health of the bay causing algae blooms and absorbing the oxygen and light that fish and plants need to survive. So keep this in mind when you are dealing with the fallen leaves that are accumulating in yards and sidewalks.  

A better way to deal with leaves would be to mulch the fallen leaves with a lawn mower and leave on the ground where they provide a great fertilizer for your lawns as they decompose. You can also use the mulch in gardens, under shrubs and trees. You can also bag the leaves as yard material and put it out with your normal trash and recycling.  

A reminder to residents that it is illegal to sweep or blow leaves into a street, gutter or storm drain. Lets all do whatever we can to help protect ourselves when Mother Nature decides to roar through our communities.  I am hoping by now that most folks have dealt with their problems. My staff and I have tried to advise and assist in everyway we could. Please call my district office if you need help.

Councilman John Olszewski, Sr. can be reached via emai at council7@baltimorecountymd.gov or by phone at 410-887-7174.