I was out of town myself, grateful for just pitter patter rain while camping at a festival, and I missed the heavy rainfall that caused the second “thousand-year flood” in two years down in Historic Ellicott City.
I saw some vague note on FB last night about Ellicott City being hit again, but having no idea of the amount of rainfall that had come in earlier in the afternoon, I had no clear idea what this post might mean.
This morning, I woke to ‘a flood’ of photos and videos, many of them of people’s own backyards and extensive flooding right outside their homes, many of them reposts of videos showing the ravaging flash floods in EC.
It’s amazing and a blessing more people weren’t killed during the flash flood. While helping others to safety, one man was washed away to his presumed death. From this upclose video released today (shared here), seems many of the same places that took the biggest hits during the July 30, 2016, flash floods also took a big hits this time around.
In some aspects, the damage doesn’t seem quite as bad as in 2016. In other areas (e.g. chunks of roads and historic buildings being washed away) it seems worse.
Two floods in two years.
I’ve lived in this area for some 44-ish off-and-on years and this is the fourth time in as many years Historic Ellicott City has flooded. The two earlier floods, I believe, were more slow-to-arrive and slow-to-recede floods; whereas the 2016 and 2018 floods were flash floods, the kind where cars get mangled and scrunched like accordions, not simply flooded and muddy.
I have no idea what the county (or state) will decide in terms of investment and rebuilding. I have no idea of what various store owners, restaurateurs, gallery owners and coffee shop owners will do now that they are facing a second rebuild (and dealing with all the challenges of their businesses being wiped out and their income plummeting or halting completely for awhile). I have no idea what the mood of the people will be in terms of support for Ellicott City. Last time around there was much hurrah and team spirit to rebuild.
This time around, I hear some rallying cries of We can pull together, and Support Ellicott City, but those cries–at least to my ears–sound weak.
