Emergency Management Directors from Anne Arundel County and the City of Annapolis testified on the effects of climate change and emergency response before the Senate Budget and Taxation Environment Subcommittee last week.

Kevin Aftung, Director, Anne Arundel County Emergency Management and Kevin J. Simmons, Director, City of Annapolis Office of Emergency Management joined Kate Hession, Operational Support Director of the Maryland Emergency Management Agency on a panel presenting to the subcommittee.

Aftung, Simmons, and Hession answered questions from the subcommittee on the frequency of severe weather events, and trends in recent weather events.

We are seeing an increase in weather extremes over the past several years. -Anne Arundel County Emergency Manager, Kevin Aftung

State agencies, including the Maryland Department of Transportation and the Maryland Emergency Management Agency were the focus of the briefing.

As reported by WTOP News,

Agencies including the Maryland Emergency Management Agency and the State Highway Administration say they’re doing all they can to prepare for the aftermath of any severe weather, but a key state lawmaker sees room for improvement.

 “We are having more extreme weather emergencies than we did before. Part of that is heat waves, part of that is snowstorms, part of that is floods. We have to update the infrastructure and we have to update the operation of government agencies to respond to that new environment,” says Sen. Jim Rosapepe, D-College Park, co-chair of the Environment Subcommittee.

For more information, see State agencies asked to sharpen response to severe weather from WTOP.