Maryland mandates safer storm drains after death of Mount Airy teen

Maryland mandated storm drain safety measures Tuesday — believed to be the first such requirement in the nation — with a law named for a 13-year-old Mount Airy boy who died after being swept into a dangerous inlet last July.

Gov. Wes Moore signed Mason’s Law, named after Mason Kearns, whose tragic death during a flash flood spurred his family to advocate for change in Annapolis.

“The Kearns family, in their grief, made a choice that I believe is one of the most extraordinary acts of love and kindness that any family can make,” Moore said, addressing family members who sat in the front row at the bill signing. “They chose to turn their pain into purpose, and say, ‘We’re going to make sure this does not happen again.’”

Passing Mason’s Law, a complex piece of legislation that requires municipalities to make safety improvements to storm drains by 2031, demanded teamwork from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and in both chambers of the legislature.

Legislators said the Kearns family’s heart-wrenching testimony in favor of the bill helped ensure it passed less than a year after Mason’s death.

“I don’t like speaking in front of people,” said Erica Kearns, Mason’s mom. “But honestly, I had zero fear. His death has to mean something.”

Mason’s brother, 16-year-old Clay Kearns, also testified twice in front of committees that were considering the bill. The family’s pain was clear. Both Erica and Clay sobbed through their testimony, holding onto each other as they spoke.

Clay was outside playing in the rain with Mason on that day in July. He heard his brother say that his foot was stuck on something, then turned to see Mason had disappeared. The powerful floodwaters had sucked Mason into a hidden storm drain at the base of a hill just outside the family’s apartment.

First responders tried desperately to save Mason but eventually recognized that he could not have survived so long trapped under the water. Erica and Clay are still stunned that a storm drain could have taken their silly, adventurous Mason from them.

Allison Eggleston, Mason’s aunt, jumped into action afterward and started researching. She learned that nearly two dozen people had died after being swept into storm drains between 2015 and 2021, according to the investigative news outlet ProPublica. Less than a month after Mason’s death, a 5-year-old girl died after she was pulled into a storm drain in Florida.

And she learned there was no law, in Maryland or any other state, to ensure that storm drains have grates or other safety measures. She asked for help from lawmakers and Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller, an engineer, who pushed for the bill’s passage.

“When I saw there was no law, I felt like we didn’t really have a choice,” Eggleston said Tuesday.

The bill faced a series of obstacles, including finding a funding source to help cash-strapped municipalities make infrastructure improvements.

The town of Mount Airy, which inspected every open storm drain following Mason’s death, found more than a dozen drains that needed grates, 24 loose grates, four collapsed inlets and seven areas in need of warning signs. Mayor Larry Hushour, who advocated for Mason’s Law, has said that fixing all of those problems would cost about $80,000.

Mason’s Law says that by July 2027, municipalities in Maryland must inventory all public and privately owned drainage inlets. They then have another year to put together a prioritization plan for the inlets that pose the most risk.

Municipalities have until 2031 to make repairs to both public and private inlets that could endanger the public. Private property owners will be responsible for maintaining the improvements after that.

The bill’s sponsor, Frederick County Democrat Sen. Karen Lewis Young, worked with the governor’s office, committee staff and colleagues in the House of Delegates to find a pot of money so the bill could pass.

Municipalities will be able to apply for matching funds from the Maryland Department of the Environment’s Comprehensive Flood Management Grant Program, which will set aside a total of $750,000 over three years to help with the project.

“When people work together and really prioritize something important, we can get things done,” Lewis Young said. “I just wish it didn’t take a tragedy to make that happen.”

Clay and Erica Kearns are grateful that the bill passed so quickly after they lost their son. Their eyes fill with tears whenever they remember Mason, who played guitar and loved to learn new tricks on his skateboard. Talking about that horrible day over and over again as they pushed for Mason’s Law was incredibly painful.

“To relive that day, it was definitely hard,” Clay said after the bill signing. “But anything to help him. Anything to get the law passed.”

Madeleine O’Neill is a freelance reporter based in Baltimore.