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Baltimore events threatened by Hurricane Joaquin

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Posted at 10:49 AM, Oct 01, 2015
and last updated 2015-10-01 10:49:49-04
Looking around in Baltimore Wednesday afternoon, it might have been hard to tell that any extreme weather is on the way.
 
That was unless you looked up. Ominous clouds hinted at what could be headed this way.
 
"As we approach this weekend, planning is always last minute and crucial and critical at this time but when you add the weather factor onto this, it really escalates the problems and the issues with it," Joy Giordano, Executive Director of Fells Point Main Street, said. 
 
 
Giordano said this weekend's 49th Annual Fells Point Fun Festival is expected to draw at least 100,000 people. She told ABC2 they're waiting until Thursday morning to make a decision on whether to have the event as planned or postpone it. 
 
"It's challenging. If you make the decision too early and the weather changes so we figure tomorrow morning is enough time for people to adjust one way or the other," she said.
 
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A decision has already been made for the Baltimore Rec Fest. Instead of Saturday, October 3 at Patterson Park, it has been moved to sometime in the Spring of 2016. 
 
"The more that people can sort of prepare now and expect it, is better," Connor Scott, Deputy Director of Emergency Management, said. "For the city, we're doing everything from looking at ways to sort of staff up some of our resources like fire dept, water rescue resources."
 
Scott said the office is monitoring the potential paths of Hurricane Joaquin, keeping an eye on the areas in the city that typically have problems with flooding, and coordinating with MEMA to make sure all emergency management agencies across the state are on the same page and ready to back each other up if necessary. 
 
"Obviously for a hurricane, the eastern shore in most scenarios is going to catch the brunt of it so we we're talking about ways that we can support them should we not have an impact. What can we offer to actually send over there," Scott said. 
 
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Since you're going to be spending the weekend indoors... New Netflix titles to binge-watch before Hurricane Joaquin