Hurricane Isabel in Epping Forest Annapolis, Md
September 18-19, 2003
Photography by John Horm
The news media have plenty of dramatic photos from Annapolis, Baltimore, and the Chesapeake Bay region. These photos are from my community of Epping Forest on the shore of the Severn River a few miles upriver from the bay. These photos were taken on Friday morning after the worst of the storm had passed and the water had receded by several feet.
The parking lot of the community clubhouse. A number of boat owners moved their boats out of the marina onto land for safety. Remember, by the time this was taken, the water had already receded by several feet.
One person moved their car to the parking lot to get it out from under the trees. At the peak, the water was up to the cars windows.
This was taken on Saturday morning after the water had returned to its normal level. Compare to the photo above.
Our community marina Friday morning. Note a piece of one of the docks sticking up in the air. The docks are still covered by about 2 feet of water. Our boat is out there someplace but it is still floating.
Some of the debris pushed up and left behind as the waters started receding.
Weeds left hanging on the dinghy rack by the high water. The center cross beams are normally about 6 feet above water level.
A view of our boat (with the green top) from a perspective high on a hill. We could see that it was floating on its lines in between the pilings. This was a good sign. Note though that there is no sign of the dock.
Epping Forest is a heavily wooded community with many trees reaching well in excess of 100 feet. Many of the trees came down during the night but luckily, as far as I know, no one was injured.
This is the house across the street from us.
This is our house, we lost only the relatively small dogwood, about 20 feet tall. It did no damage and we felt very lucky.
Although hard to see, this is a large tree completely blocking a road.
This tree hit only a storage shed but that was enough to make the residents leave and find shelter in a hotel.
Neither this house nor the jeep below were quite so lucky.
Cleanup begins.
Most of our houses got off quite lucky but not so our docks. The wind direction was roughly southeast, the same direction as the severn. The waves were brutal and completely devastated our docks.
Note the great blue heron in the background.
Part of the docks left high and dry by the water. The wall is normally about 5 feet above the water.
I guess we got off lucky, docks can be replaced as can other "things".
Saturday evening we took a ride downtown. The following photos are from the former McNasby's seafood packing house which has been recently converted into the Annapolis Maritime Museum. The damage here is incredible. I had an exhibition here until 2 weeks ago.
This was a solid concrete block wall before Isabel. The water level was about 6 feet up the walls and the waves rolled in from the Chesapeake Bay through the Severn River and destroyed the wall. This gives some feel for the violence and power of the storm.
This scene is situated behind McNasby's where one would think it would be protected by the concrete block building. The piece of red and white that looks like a dormer is the remains of a model of Thomas Point Lighthouse that had been in the building before the storm. The model stood about 6 feet tall. I saw no other recognizable pieces of the model. The dormer is resting on the remains of a historic Chesapeake Bay workboat that was being rebuilt by the museum.
All that remains of McNasby's dock. Before Isabel, there were railings, floorboards, and picnic tables. Visitors would relax on the dock with their crabcake meals enjoying the view. The water immediately off the dock is Back Creek. Just beyond Back Creek, to the left is the Severn River, and far in the distance, well beyond the point of land is the Chesapeake Bay. This is looking at approximately the direction the waves came from.
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