During Isabel, several dwellings were washed away in the Rappahannock and Potomac rivers. Hurricane Irene was my next encounter. A microburst (strong wind) blew directly across the street. Someone's hand appeared to have slashed a passage through the woods. Trees were down everywhere, some torn up by their roots. Irene was a much more intense storm than Isabel had been. The wind was howling harder, the rain was falling even faster. But what surprised me most about Irene was the number of trees that had been snapped in two near my home. Apparently, they were all growing in an area where there was no road access so they'd never been removed when the rest of the yard was trimmed. It took several hours for the water to recede enough for us to walk around our neighborhood. There were lots of boats out on the river but no one had been hurt. Isabel and Irene were only two of many hurricanes to hit the East Coast in 2003. In fact, it was the most active year on record for hurricanes. There were nine hurricanes that reached hurricane strength (74 mph or 119 ktgt). Of these, three became major hurricanes - categories 3, 4, and 5. That's more than half! The strongest hurricane to hit Maryland was Bonnie with winds of 70 mph. It caused some tree damage but no deaths.