The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) awarded Baltimore its highest Class 5 flood preparedness rating. Who’s excited? About 3,000 Baltimore business owners and residents because their flood insurance premiums will drop up to 25 percent going forward. Better building codes, public education and improved infrastructure means that flooding will wreak less damage on buildings located in flood hazard areas.
In the eyes of the federal government, the riots that followed Freddie Gray’s funeral weren’t a disaster.
Maryland Sens. Barb Mikulski and Ben Cardin pressed for President Obama and FEMA to reverse their decision to deny federal aid to Marylanders left without habitable homes in the wake of superstorm Sandy. Mikulski called those affected “the 2 percent that go to war and fight for America;” Cardin pointed out that a whopping 32 percent of residents of the hard-hit Crisfield live below the poverty line and simply cannot get back on their feet without help.
If you find yourself at Harbor East this weekend, don’t mind the swarms of police and firefighters; it’s only a drill. This Saturday, from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., Harbor East will be the site of a simulated terrorist attack for local and regional emergency personnel honing their collective response to “large fires or mass casualties in a high-rise building.”
