State Of Emergency Issued For Ellicott City After Flash Flooding (Maryland)

[DCPatriot]

BALTIMORE (WJZ)– A State of Emergency has been issued for a Maryland city that has been pounded by severe weather.

RELATED: Flash Flood Warning Issued For Parts Of Maryland

Ellicott City, which has been recovering from a devastating flood from July 2016, is experiencing dangerous flood waters Sunday afternoon, which has prompted a Flash Flood Emergency and a State of Emergency by Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan.

    I have spoken to Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman & am currently heading to Ellicott City. I have directed @MDMEMA to assist in any capacity possible, and numerous other state agencies are providing support. I have declared a State of Emergency. #ECFlood #HoCoMd

    — Governor Larry Hogan (@GovLarryHogan) May 27, 2018

[WARNING: Explicit language used in video below]

    It’s happening all over again. Main Street in @EllicottCity with devastating flooding. @CairnsKcairns @FOXBaltimore @wbaltv11 @wjz video courtesy my sister Kali Harris. (Explicit language) #EllicottCity #Maryland pic.twitter.com/IuwBRyPRzW



http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2018/05/27/flash-flood-emergency-issued-for-ellicott-city-howard-co/

[Neverdul]

I am in Towson Maryland area visiting a friend and watching the local news coverage. Terrible flooding. We went to the movies to see Deadpool2. It was warm and sunny when we went into the theater but when we came out it was pouring, raining as hard as you can imagine and lots of lightning, roads flooded in many areas.

It was 2 years ago that Ellicott City flooded under similar circumstances – rain coming down at 2-3+ inches an hour and lasting for over several hours – training thunderstorms. Ellicott City is bad but there have been other areas locally with flooding and water rescues as well in Baltimore City and Catonsville….they are estimating that some areas got 10+ inches of rain over 3 hours.

 Old Town Ellicott City is a really neat area, old architecture and with lots of restaurants and cool shops and antique stores, the type of place you can spend a good day walking around. It was devastated back in 2016 by the flooding with several deaths, mostly people trapped in cars. The bad thing about Old Town Ellicott City is that is that is sits in a basin and on a hill alongside a tributary to the Patapsco River. It is not the first time it as flooded and as the weather guy from WBAL said, won’t be the last. 

Funny (not in an amusing way but in an ironic way) I had just read an article from a few days ago about how they were putting in some sort of flash flood warning system and working to re-engineer the area to prevent the sort of flooding that happened in 2016.

I am right now watching video of cars being washed down the streets, tossed around like toys. I hope no one was in them.

[Suppressed]

I know it's heretical for a conservative to talk about limiting development, but that's why we're seeing these problems.  It's simple physics.  The water isn't dispersed widely, nor infiltrating over time, but the peaks get compressed and the water just can't get conveyed away or down fast enough.

[DCPatriot]

http://twitter.com/Matt_Fox10/status/1000851932318085122

Video

[DCPatriot]

I know it's heretical for a conservative to talk about limiting development, but that's why we're seeing these problems.  It's simple physics.  The water isn't dispersed widely, nor infiltrating over time, but the peaks get compressed and the water just can't get conveyed away or down fast enough.

Have lived in the State since 1972 and cannot recall Ellicott City having these issues.

It HAS to be development.  Not enough dirt...too much asphalt, etc..

[Neverdul]

! No longer available

[Neverdul]

Have lived in the State since 1972 and cannot recall Ellicott City having these issues.

It HAS to be development.  Not enough dirt...too much asphalt, etc..

Ellicott City due to its topography, has had a history of this type of flooding. It was originally a mill town, built along the the hillside and banks of a tributary of the Patapsco River. It has happened before and well before "development".

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/ellicott-city-a-town-of-many-many-floods/2016/07/31/94f05032-575e-11e6-9767-f6c947fd0cb8_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.773c5081edc2

From this article about the 2016 flash flood, "For so much rain to fall so intensely in any given year works out to be a 0.1 of a percent chance, the National Weather Service said. Saturday’s storm, then, was a once-in-a-millennium occurrence."

It seems that that it would be a twice in-in-a-millennium occurrence.

[edpc]

Have lived in the State since 1972 and cannot recall Ellicott City having these issues.

It HAS to be development.  Not enough dirt...too much asphalt, etc..

Then you don't remember Agnes.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/ph-ho-cf-agnes-anniversary-0621-20120620-story.html

[DCPatriot]

Then you don't remember Agnes.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/ph-ho-cf-agnes-anniversary-0621-20120620-story.html

Come on, man.

"Agnes"?   Now THAT was a once in a millennial event.

I'm speaking of routine periods of heavy rains.   Ellicott City didn't ALWAYS flood.   Not like in the above video it didn't.

[edpc]

I'm speaking of routine periods of heavy rains.   Ellicott City didn't ALWAYS flood.   Not like in the above video it didn't.

The town is prone to flooding from the Patapsco River and its tributary the Tiber River. These floods have had a major impact on the history of the town, often destroying important businesses and killing many. Ellicott City has had major devastating floods in 1817, 1837, 1868, 1901, 1917, 1923, 1938, 1942, 1952, 1956, 1972 (Hurricane Agnes), 1975 (Hurricane Eloise), 1989, 2011, 2016, and 2018.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellicott_City,_Maryland


The town where I grew up in Harford County was the same way until construction of the Conowingo Dam lessened the frequency.  You can see the historic marked flood lines at the Rock Run Mill in Susquehanna State Park.

[Fishrrman]

"Ellicott City has had major devastating floods in 1817, 1837, 1868, 1901, 1917, 1923, 1938, 1942, 1952, 1956, 1972 (Hurricane Agnes), 1975 (Hurricane Eloise), 1989, 2011, 2016, and 2018."

With a frequency of flooding like that, who (at least anyone with any brains) wants to stay there?

I'd head for higher ground.

I suppose folks will stay so long as the feds keep funding "rebuilding" afterwards.
Perhaps it's time to stop this policy, and only permit the dispersal of funds if the money is used to RELOCATE, and NOT to "rebuild"...

A good song on the subject:
! No longer available
(by the way, that's Phil Rosenthal singing lead, not John Starling. I was there)

[edpc]

With a frequency of flooding like that, who (at least anyone with any brains) wants to stay there?

You’d think, at some point, they’d at least dredge a canal or build a levy.