Accomack County Administrator Mike Mason said the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) are developing an agreement that might make it easier for Tangier Island to receive crucial services to preserve its accessibility to the mainland during a deep freeze.
For nearly three weeks from the end of January until mid-February, the island was virtually unreachable, surrounded by a thick sheet of unnavigable ice caused by prolonged below-freezing temperatures.
“There was actually ice forming out in the sound, which is rare,” said James “Ooker“ Eskridge, Tangier’s mayor.
“We’re a true island with no easy connection to the mainland on a good day,” he said. “The isolation is nice at times, but can also be a significant hardship, like this past winter.”
Tangier residents are used to the challenges and everyday inconveniences of life in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay.
The thick layer of impassable ice cut Tangier off from the mainland. Residents worried about running out of food, fuel and medicine.
Several pilots based at the Accomack County Airport in Melfa volunteered to fly supplies in or residents out, but snow buildup on Tangier’s runway often hindered those efforts.
A barge delivering home heating fuel and gasoline couldn’t make the trip to supply residents, who were burning more fuel than usual to combat the cold.
The year-round mail boat and passenger ferry that ordinarily makes the 14-nautical-mile trip several times a day between Tangier and Crisfield, Md., couldn’t maneuver through the ice without dangerously overpowering its cooling system.
Enter the Eddie Somers, a 94-foot-long icebreaker vessel stationed in Crisfield, capable of cutting through 1.5 feet of hard ice. Its primary mission is to forge paths for boat traffic in the Chesapeake Bay much the same way a plow clears snow from roads.
Twice this winter, Tangier residents depended on this boat for needed help. It brought over mail and supplies, including food and medicine, and made it possible for residents to keep their medical appointments on the mainland.
The fuel barge also followed behind to make its much-anticipated delivery.
“It was a lifeline, “ Eskridge said of the icebreaker ship. “Our older residents, in particular, were worried, and this eased their minds a bit.”
There have been a number of winters over the past decade when Tangier has relied on icebreaker services out of Crisfield.
Given its 14-mile proximity, it also makes sense. The nearest such ship in Virginia is based in Norfolk, roughly a 5-hour voyage over 75 nautical miles.
Speaking before the Accomack County Board of Supervisors on April 15, Administrator Mason said he was apprised that VDEM is now in the process of developing an interstate memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Maryland for icebreaker services.
A previous agreement was in place between the United States Coast Guard and Maryland’s Emergency Management Services.
Mason said it’s possible that unless a declaration of emergency has been issued, the county and town could end up shouldering some of the cost of icebreaking services.
“It looks like there will be more of a framework going forward, “ he said. “We don’t know what that is yet.”