Video Captures Flash Flood Tearing Through Historic Ellicott City, Maryland
Flash floods devastated a Maryland community on Sunday after the Patapsco River rose almost 18 feet in two hours.
One person was reported missing after flooding hit Ellicott City, CNN reported.
The missing man was identified by WGME as Eddison Hermond, an Air Force veteran and National Guard member who had been trying to rescue others when he was swept away by the flooding.
“There are no words. It’s heartbreaking,” Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman said Monday, noting that the flooding took place just as many businesses in the community’s historic downtown had finished rebuilding from damaging 2016 flooding.
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Although Kittleman said there were no fatalities, rescue workers on Monday were digging through mud in some buildings.
Officials said that in some cases, flooding had immersed the first story of buildings under water.
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“They say this is a once every 1,000-year flood and we’ve had two of them in two years,” said Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, according to CBS.
Kittleman discouraged anyone from visiting to examine the wreckage firsthand.
“This is people’s lives, and they don’t need to have strangers coming around,” he said, according to The Baltimore Sun.
The community, about 12 miles west of Baltimore, suffered flooding after the Patapsco river rose almost 18 feet to a new record of over 24 feet.
Flash floods ripped through Ellicott City, Maryland, on Sunday, toppling buildings and upending cars, as the nearby Patapsco River swelled to a record-breaking level. The devastation comes barely two years after the last flood that ravaged the city. https://t.co/dX0lVPTegn pic.twitter.com/U4FGaaFJUJ
— CNN (@CNN) May 28, 2018
Jessica Ur, a server at the Pure Wine Cafe, said the muddy flood carried parked cars down Main Street.
“It’s significantly higher than it was before,” she said, referring to the 2016 flood. “At this point, I’m definitely really worried about all our neighbors on Main Street.”
IN-DEPTH: The second 1,000-year rainstorm in two years engulfed Ellicott City. Here’s how it happened: https://t.co/egQYjsHybz
— Capital Weather Gang (@capitalweather) May 28, 2018
At the Main Street Ballroom, the flood forced a wedding party to flee.
“It looked like we were in the Titanic or ‘The Poseidon Adventure,’” said Bill Rigby, father of the bride, who said that although the doors kept the water at bay for some time, “all the sudden it just can’t anymore.”
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