Ellicott City Hit By More Rain After Historic Flooding
ELLICOTT CITY, Md. (WJZ) -- Just as Ellicott City begins to dig out after a massive flood, more wet weather moves through the area.
Thursday was supposed to be day number three for people to get access to Main street to visit their homes and businesses, but more rain put a stop to the cleanup.
"Taking a bucket and trying to scoop the water and tossing it out the back step and every time you would throw the water, you could just see it running right back down the stairs," Mike Vanmeter of Ellicott City said.
Officials were set to take business and homeowners to their properties Thursday evening, but that was also canceled for safety reasons after a flood watch was issued.
Due to the existing forecast & FLASH FLOOD WATCH that will take effect at 2 pm today, 5/31, ALL ESCORTED & UNESCORTED visits to Main St, #EllicottCityMD have been CXL for this evening. For those that had scheduled unescorted access, you will be contacted to reschedule. #ECStrong
— Howard County Gov't (@HoCoGov) May 31, 2018
The town is recovering from its second catastrophic flooding event Sunday. It suffered the same fate two years ago in July 2016. One man, Sgt. Eddison Hermond, was killed when he tried to help a woman evacuating her store.
County Executive Allen Kittleman said he cannot guarantee that the city will not flood again.
"We're doing everything in our power to make sure anything that happens in the next couple of days will have as little of an impact as possible," Kittleman said.
He addressed again the concerns of residents and business owners about the town flooding again.
"You get six inches of rain in two hours, very little can really be done -- we can make it less impactful, but we're not going to stop all flooding," he added. "My heart aches when I tell you that and when I tell them that, because I want to tell them that it'll almost be OK."
Officials said they have cleared major blockages from the main channel. One hundred trucks worth of material was taken out of the town -- sand, rocks, tree trunks, building debris -- and crews tried to save historical artifact like the millstones.
Crews Thursday worked to prevent further damage to the town -- adding tarps to areas that have eroded and clearing as much debris as they can.
When asked about the possibility of more flooding Thursday, the Director of Public Works James M. Irvin said it depends on how much rain falls and when.
"It depends on the intensity. If it's spread out over a longer period of time then we should be OK and if it comes down in a deluge we could potentially have flooding again," Irvin said. "So it all depends on how quickly it comes down."
He also said what happens upstream can affect the flooding.
"It's not just what falls on Ellicott City, it's what falls on Valley Meade and upstream areas of the drainage area," he added.
Howard County Councilman Jon Weinstein Represents said he supports legislation that will extend the state of emergency for a disaster that has gotten national attention.
"The White House actually called me on Monday, as they did the county executive, and they've expressed an interest, a desire to help out," Weinstein said. "What I said to them was there's $3 million outstanding from the last flood that you've been holding on to, please release that immediately."
Federal and state crews are now surveying the aftermath of the storm.
"It's devastating, it's traumatizing. It takes you back to less than two years ago," resident Kathleen Vanmeter said.
WJZ's Kimberly Eiten and Ava-joye Burnett contributed to this story.
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