For the second time in two years, the main street in historic Ellicott City, Maryland, has been rocked by a massive flash flood due to heavy rains that quickly rolled into the area late Sunday afternoon. CBS Baltimore reports that the city, which is still recovering from a devastating flood from July 2016, has seen its commercial district completely submerged underwater.
The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a flash flood emergency for Ellicott City in Howard County at 4:40 p.m.
“This is an EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AND POTENTIALLY CATASTROPHIC situation and you must move to HIGHER GROUND IMMEDIATELY AND STAY AWAY FROM ANYWHERE WHERE WATER IS MOVING,” the National Weather Service tweeted at 5:35 pm.
Howard County Fire and EMS tweeted around 5 pm: “If you are trapped in a building on Main Street – climb to the second floor of the building and Shelter in Place. Rescuers will come for you | Please DO NOT call 911 as long as you are in a safe space.”There are reports of numerous water rescues.
Ellicott City’s Main Street is suffering flooding on the scale of the July 30, 2016 storm. Please avoid the area. Our emergency operations center is open and we are responding to the emergency.
— Howard County Gov’t (@HoCoGov) May 27, 2018
Libby Solomon, a field reporter for The Baltimore Sun, captured dramatic footage showing the flash flood ripping through the commercial district of the town — filled with mostly small business.
In case it’s not clear yet, stay away from Main Street. Please. pic.twitter.com/FO1HFpYqMo
— Libby Solomon (@libsolomon) May 27, 2018
Jeremy Harris, a field reporter for KUTV2 News, received an exclusive video of the flash flood tearing apart the main street.
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
— Jeremy Harris (@JeremyHarrisTV) May 27, 2018
Ellicott City, which is barely situated above sea level, is experiencing another ‘1-in-1,000’ year flood event, on the same level as it saw in 2016.
Main Street #EllicottCity flooding. pic.twitter.com/crYP74go08
— Libby Solomon (@libsolomon) May 27, 2018
One Twitter user captured footage of vehicles floating down the road.
If you’re not keeping up with the news. Millions of dollars in damages happening in #ellicottcity 😕 be safe out there. pic.twitter.com/xd9ye7tIlu
— . (@PrettyGrlGuide) May 27, 2018
The flash flood was also spotted on side streets that fed into the main street.
Again #EllicottCity pic.twitter.com/4nw4Rxt74k
— Hollis Karr (@holliskarr) May 27, 2018
Dozens of cars were abandoned in the city street as many ran for higher ground.
Jessica Ur, a server at Pure Wine Cafe, took this video of the floodwaters in #EllicottCity. “There’s been about 3 or 4 cars that have floated down,” she says. pic.twitter.com/ToPtUjr9XQ
— Colin Campbell (@cmcampbell6) May 27, 2018
“If you don’t have to be outside, you shouldn’t be,” said Baltimore County fire department spokeswoman Elise Armacost. “You’re much safer indoors.”
Armacost said the fire department is responding to dozens of weather-related emergency calls, with most of the calls coming from the southeastern district of Baltimore County. “We’ve got storm warnings all across the county right now,” she added.
Bad flash flooding going on in #Baltimore right now. This is I-95 north at Caton Avenue. pic.twitter.com/NqRCiyGIXb
— Colin Campbell (@cmcampbell6) May 27, 2018
This article appeared at ZeroHedge.com at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-05-27/video-shows-flash-flood-wiping-out-historic-city-maryland