911 Calls From Ellicott City Flooding Released
ELLICOTT CITY, Md. (WJZ) -- The 911 calls from Saturday night, when Old Ellicott City experienced historic and deadly flooding, have been released by the county government.
Two people were killed by the rushing waters, buildings were destroyed and many more were severely damaged, and cars were dragged down the street and into the banks of the Tiber River.
The National Weather Service called it a once in a thousand-year event. Six-and-a-half inches of rain fell in just two hours, and the historic district's Main Street sits in a deep valley surrounded by high hills.
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"There are cars flying down the street," a woman who called from the Bean Hollow coffee shop can be heard telling the operator. She describes the floor buckling inside the building, where eight people were trapped, and being unable to find a way to get to a higher level of the building without going outside. Eventually, the she said the group found stairs they could use.
Another man explained that he was calling from a restaurant, Portalli's, where 100 people were trapped.
The man told the operator that the flooding reached the ceiling of the first floor.
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Another caller said he was at the Phoenix Emporium, trapped along with about 30 people.
"We have a basement that's completely flooded, and on the first floor, we're about two feet up," he said.
A woman calling from Ellicott Mills Brewing Company called to report the flooding, but said people had been moved to the second floor.
"We're safe," she told the operator. "Go help other people first... We're trapped here but we're safe here."
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