Flying Around The Chesapeake Bay, Other Areas Affected By Hurricane Sandy

There is no better way to get a 'big picture' view of damage from a storm like Sandy than to see it from the air. Thus the Maryland Wing of the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) has launched a series of sorties to photograph damage from the storm in and around Chesapeake Bay and other critical areas.

At first light on Wednesday, Lt. Col. John Henderson, the wing’s homeland security officer, flew Christina Mackey of the Calvert County Emergency Operations Center over specific points of critical infrastructure in the county; CAP's photographs will be compared with baseline photographs of the same area to determine the extent of the damage.

Additional sorties will be flown to provide the Maryland Emergency Management Agency with damage assessment photos of the Chesapeake Bay shoreline as well as areas around Ocean City on the Atlantic coast. The hardest-hit areas – including the barrier islands and the Atlantic coastline from the Delaware to the Virginia state lines; the west side of Chesapeake Bay from Gunpowder Falls to Dundalk, Baltimore Harbor and Riviera Beach; and the west side of Chesapeake Bay from Green Haven through Annapolis and to Chesapeake Beach – are designated as top priority.

CAP's sorties are expected to continue through Friday when the Susquehanna River is expected to crest. “These flights provide a critical service to the state of Maryland in determining infrastructure needs and problems in real time,” said Col. John Knowles, Maryland Wing commander.

(Image courtesy Civil Air Patrol)

FMI: www.gocivilairpatrol.com