BETHESDA SURVIVES

HURRICANE IRENE

Larry Layton was right! As Hurricane Irene progressed on its collision course with the Delmarva Peninsula early Saturday morning, the Ocean City restauranteur made his defiant last stand. Defying Governor Martin O'Malley's mandatory evacuation order, Layton swore to ride the storm out in the Blue Marlin Capital of the World.

Quite a gamble, but Layton now seems like a man with a sixth sense. Irene has come and gone, and both Ocean City and Bethesda dodged a bullet Saturday night.

Varying levels of tenacity in our town meant that some restaurants stayed open as Irene approached - Redwood, BlackFinn, Mussel Bar, Union Jack's, Chef Tony's, Jiffy Shoppes, Grapeseed... to name a few.

When Irene hit, winds and rain were all it had in its arsenal. And those winds didn't gust to 50+mph many times here. With few trees in the central business district, downtown Bethesda was hardly scratched by the time the sun rose. Virtually every restaurant was open for business as usual Sunday morning. Residential areas just outside of town had some outages and fallen trees. Overall, this turned out to be one of the weakest hurricanes to hit Montgomery County ever.

Irene didn't live up to its billing, and I don't think anyone is complaining! Bradley Hills ES and Chevy Chase ES are closed due to power outages - another day of summer vacation! That never happened when I was in school.

Bethesda survived a Category 2 hurricane and a 5.8 earthquake - in the same week!

Our city is up to the future challenges to come, but let's hope we can get through an uneventful week in the days ahead!