Scattershot planning and outdated communications gear caused confusion and delays after a 29-inch snowfall Oct. 29-30 left some Garrett County residents snowbound and without power for more than a week. The problems prompted Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley to replace the county’s longtime emergency management chief to help the state improve the ability to respond to weather disasters.
A year later, as the season’s first snowflakes fall, first-responder communications have been upgraded, procedures have been revised, and work on a new emergency operations center at the county airport will be completed. That facility will replace the makeshift command center set up at the county courthouse after the snowstorm.
