Residents Hope Irene Isn't Another Isabel

Bruce Allender had just moved to Bowleys Quarters four months before Tropical Storm Isabel wreaked havoc on the peninsula in Sept. 2003.

The CPA thought he had taken all the necessary precautions to ensure his home and his valuables—including his prized antique car collection— were secured before the storm. He wasn’t even close.

The first floor of Allender’s home was completely flooded out with nearly two feet of water and he lost five cars to Isabel, including a corvette, a Jeep and a 1966 Chevrolet convertible. Now, with Hurricane Irene moving up the East Coast and expected to hit Maryland Saturday, Allender is not taking any chances.

“I’m moving anything out that can float away,” said Allender, who has since rebuilt his home and had it raised 8 feet off the ground. “When you live in a place that is extremely beautiful like Bowleys Quarters you have to deal with the extreme negative things as well. It’s part of what you expect when you live here.”

Unlike Isabel, residents in communities like Bowleys Quarters and Wilson Point, aren’t taking any chances with Irene. All over the area, residents were moving vehicles to higher ground, pulling boats out of the water and boarding up their houses and securing all valuables.

Jim Schreiber is one of those residents. The owner of Chesapeake Woodworks has lived in Bowleys Quarters since 1985 and can't remember a storm as bad as Isabel.

During that storm, the first floor of Schrieber’s home filled with 18 inches of water and he was forced to rebuild. In addition, his garage flooded out and he lost several power tools, a freezer filled with food and a 2003 Ford Mustang, which he had recently purchased and that had just 900 miles on it.

“I never thought the water would come all the way past my house and through my garage,” he said. “I’ve never seen a storm like that before and I hope Irene isn’t going to be the same.”

Allen Robertson, a Patch blogger, said he thought he took all the right steps to ensure his home would not be damaged in the event of a tropical storm or hurricane when he built his home in 1990.

The financial adviser went as far as to re-grade his property so it sloped at an angle deep enough to keep flood waters from entering his home. Even that wasn’t enough during Isabel as he suffered floor and drywall damage to his home and had water flood his car. Still, he was luckier than most.

“I was prepared for a 100-year storm,” Robertson said. “That was more than a 100-year storm.”

Over in Wilson Point, Russ Harrington was busy Friday packing up valuables in a van and boarding up the doors and windows of the home he and his wife, Shelia, has lived in for 46 years.

In all those years, the Harringtons never had to leave their home during a storm. That is until Isabel.

“We thought we could ride out the storm at home, but then the fire department came and recommended we leave,” Mrs. Harrington said. “I’d never seen so much water before in my life when Isabel flooded our home. We’re just hoping the same won’t be true with Irene.”