The Worst Flooding Since Isabel

About 5-6” covering the pier

We’re having a fairly normal fall storm, but the angle of the winds have combined with the tides to create the worst flooding in the Chesapeake area we’ve seen since hurricane Isabel, in 2003. Earlier this week there was a nor’easter north of us, and the drainage from up north down into the Chesapeake is aggravating the situation.

There was a general email sent out by a substitute caretaker at the marina (the owner is on a foreign vacation) suggesting everyone needed to look to their boats. I was scheduled to run a 5K with my girl this evening, but it was cancelled as the Anacostia River trail is under water. As a result, I had the time and decided to go up - more to look at it than because I was worried.

The drive up was miserable. Normally under an hour, we poked along on the interstate at about 40 mph. In unlikely timing, I got to the marina during a relatively dry interval between two rain bands. It was an hour or two after high tide, but it was pretty high! It was over the dock, by several inches. I had brought my boots, and was able to get down to the end of the pier where my boat is.

The floating dock is higher than the fixed pier.
The metal ramp connects the two.
Mutima is on the right.

This spring, the marina installed new floating docks at end of the fixed pier, and I was lucky enough to get one of the few slots. As a result, I tie my floating boat to something that also floats, and so my boat and the dock move together. This is why I wasn’t too worried about how Mutima would come through. But, I wanted to see it.

For previous storms, I’ve had to tie my floating boat to fixed pilings, and so it’s hard to get a line that has enough slack to hold the boat as it floats up, but not too much slack to make it too loose in lower water, and thus likely to bang into the sides of the slip. 

The winds kicked up while I was there, and they made me stagger a couple of times and make sure I had very firm footing. After about 20 minutes, the skies opened back up and I headed home. Waze took me on a tour of alternative roads, apparently any road being better than I95 tonight. I was through the worst of it before dark.

The highest water is likely to be around 2 am, high tide and the tail end of the storm. I may make another trip back up in the next couple of days to make sure all is still well.