St Mary's County Blog

St. Mary’s County Department of Public Safety would like you to Be Aware and Be Prepared for severe weather during the upcoming spring season. St. Mary’s County is prone to a wide variety of natural hazards, including severe thunderstorms, flash flooding and tornados.

There are simple steps to take to help save lives and mitigate the effects from these severe weather hazards. First and foremost is to become educated with the terms which are used to warn the public of pending weather and the systems which deploy these warnings.

• A watch means that a severe thunderstorm, flash flood or tornado is possible in your area. You should monitor a NOAA Weather Radio or local radio and television news outlets for the latest developments.

• A warning is when a thunderstorm, flash flood or tornado is actually occurring, take shelter immediately.

CodeRED Weather Warning is an early telephone warning system designed to automatically deliver targeted weather notifications for the immediate threats of severe thunderstorms, flash floods and tornado warnings within moments of being issued by the National Weather Service. Weather Warning delivers a pre-recorded alert message via phone to citizens in St. Mary’s County who choose to sign up. The system sends these notifications 24 hours a day, 365 days a year providing the needed time to prepare for severe weather events. This becomes critical if a tornado comes through your area during the night, when television, radio broadcasts and sirens are less effective.

St. Marys County Government will remain closed for non-essential employees on Friday, Feb. 12. Emergency response staff will continue to clear snow and qualified inspectors will review the condition of each building before it is reoccupied.
While some roadways will continue to be hazardous with the heavy accumulations of snow and ice, State Highway, County Highways and private snow removal crews are working to clear all roadways.

The Loffler Building in Chancellors Run Park on Chancellors Run Road in Great Mills experienced a partial roof collapse on Feb. 10. It will remain closed until further notice. Seniors are encouraged to visit one of the other two Activity Centers for services and meals when they reopen on Tuesday, February 16.

The St. Mary's County Government closed again on Thursday, February 11th, 2010 due to a severe winter storm that passed thru the county dropping a record snow fall.

Please select the link below that has been provided to view Media Release for Saint Mary's County Government.

Maintenance tips from farmers.

The roof is the most important part of your barn. Barn roofing is typically metal and needs to be painted periodically. Loose metal must be nailed to hold it firmly in place. Wind can get under a sheet of metal and bend it or blow it away.

Inspect the barn for signs of wood-boring insects. Treat immediately.

Replace siding when it deteriorates to keep the weather out of the barn.

Keep the doors in good condition and secure, especially on the north side, which receives the harshest weather.

Most barns have double doors over driveways with an overhead center bar for support—make sure all parts of the doors and the center bar are intact. If you have two sets of doors and one is bad, it is probably best to keep both sets open until they can be repaired. Do not let wind into the barn unless it can get out, or it can blow the barn down.

Keep vegetation away from the barn. Do not allow poison ivy or other vines to climb the siding. Do not allow trees to grow right next to the barn, and if seedlings appear, remove them when they are small. Existing trees growing up against the barn should be cut off at the ground. Their roots can be removed if they are not very large. Large trees will have large root systems, and grubbing them out could damage the barn. Consider spraying Roundup beneath sills once a year to keep vegetation down. Follow manufacturer’s instructions—it is useless to apply Roundup unless some foliage is present.

Inspect the sills and top plates for signs of rot or damage. Repair siding or roofing that may be exposing the frame to water or weather. Cut out rotted or damaged portions and replace with good wood. Inspect wood parts of the structure that directly contact the ground, such as ground-set posts that support sheds on the barn. Keep water from pooling around them. If the bases of the posts are deteriorated, cut out the bad wood and install concrete or stone piers to support the cut ends.

Paint may lengthen the life of siding, depending on the type of lumber. Virginia pine will last quite well without paint. Loblolly pine siding will not. Poplar siding may fare better when painted.

Editor's note:
The information published above (with photographs) is available via the St Mary's County Government website. It is located as a PDF document and can be down loaded at this link: Tobacco Barn

Monday started with a great turnout at our 2nd Small Independent Business  Roundtable at Lenny’s Restaurant. About 125 attended and heard about a wide variety of business resources available along with emerging ideas on how to raise local awareness of the many restaurants, construction trades, and other small business sectors throughout the County. We had businesses from Charlotte Hall to Scotland that employed one to 100. We heard from them, their concerns, challenges and opportunities. There is much work to do in 2010 to help the local economy.

This roundtable will be key to this effort. Many thanks if you attended the roundtable on Monday or our first one in November. The next one is scheduled for Monday, February 8, 2010 8:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m. at Lenny’s Restaurant. Please consider attending to learn, help, network, and be part of the roundtable.

SCBA meeting for Wednsday the January 13, 2009

Location:
St. Mary’s College of Maryland (Glendenning Hall Annex)
18952 E. Fisher Rd
St. Mary's City, MD 20686-3001

Time: 7pm – 8pm
Moderators: SCBA Officers

Everyone is invited to attend and remember, we invite you to "Visit South County" !!!