HUNTINGTOWN, Md. — Calvert County public safety authorities have visited two catastrophic private road washouts to formulate contingency plans for getting stranded residents out in an emergency, according to Al Jeffries, the county’s deputy director of public safety.
At least 13 homes are impacted and dozens of people remain stranded by the washouts after Tropical Storm Isaias struck the DMV Tuesday.
All vehicle access is has been cut off from the properties since Tuesday morning, according to residents of Ox Cart Road and nearby Hunting Farms Lane.
The damage could take days or weeks to repair and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to Jason Scaggs, one of the excavation contractors who inspected both sites.
Repairs to the private roads are the responsibility of the homeowners, according to Venus Ray, who is among the residents stranded by a washout on Ox Cart Road.
She and other residents are hopeful that state or federal authorities might be able to extend aid or loans to assist because of the public safety issues.
At the washout on Hunting Farms Lane, residents are using a kayak to get out, and have rigged a hand-operated cable trolley to ferry groceries and supplies accross a chasm -- estimated to be 15 feet deep -- where the road used to exist.
“This is just unbelievable," Roger Hogan, a stranded resident on Hunting Farms Lane, said. "I mean we have no idea how long its going to take to get this repaired."
Hogan is concerned about residents who may have health issues.
"If there was an emergency, we don’t know how we would get them out of here," he said. "Maybe by helicopter."
