This image made from video provided by DroneBase shows vehicles swept by floodwater near the intersection of Ellicott Mills Drive and Main Street in Ellicott City, Md., Monday, 28 May 2018. Photo: DroneBase / AP

By Kevin Rector and Pamela Wood
28 May 2018
ELLICOTT CITY, Maryland (The Baltimore Sun) – Residents, merchants and officials in Ellicott City on Monday began to examine the devastation wrought by floods that coursed through the historic mill town the night before — the second time in less than two years.
Old Ellicott City’s Main Street remained blocked off Monday, as crews walked up and down the street inspecting buildings. Police were looking for a man who was reported missing during the flooding Sunday. Cars were planted upside down and on their sides in streams and along the road, and a crane tow truck was brought in to lift them out. Utility workers began to restore power, fix a broken water line and bypass a broken sewer pipe.
Many quickly began to ask the question: Should we rebuild again?At Tersiguel’s French Country Restaurant, owner Michel Tersiguel knew immediately that he would repair and reopen his restaurant, a longtime destination restaurant for special occasions and French class field trips. He was on the phone with a contractor Sunday night. “Time to rebuild, that’s it,” Tersiguel said. “It’s no question for us. We rebuilt the building last time, so that helped. … Our plan is to get it as soon as the county lets us in.” Nathan Sowers, owner of River House Pizza Co., isn’t sure if he will reopen. “It’s an eight-month season. The sun shines, you make hay. Now is when you need to be doing it,” he said, noting that the tourism season is just beginning. “We just have to see if the numbers work.” [more]

After 2nd major flood in two years, Maryland city ponders whether to rebuild again
Residents gather by a bridge on Monday, 28 May 2018, to look at cars left crumpled in one of the tributaries of the Patapsco River that burst its banks as it channeled through historic Main Street in Ellicott City, Maryland, on Sunday, 27 May 2018. Photo: David McFadden / AP Photo

By Talia Richman, Libby Solomon, and Kevin Rector
28 May 2018
(The Baltimore Sun) – Ellicott City was devastated by flash flooding from a massive rainstorm Sunday, just two years after a similar event forced the historic city in Howard County to rebuild much of its Main Street.Murky brown water ripped through Main Street — the epicenter of flooding in the region — in the late afternoon, submerging cars and businesses’ first floors for nearly two hours. By nightfall, floodwaters had begun to recede. The cycle replayed scenes from 2016: customers stranded in restaurants, storefronts destroyed and cars overturned.Gov. Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency and directed the Maryland Emergency Management Agency to assist in Ellicott City’s recovery.“They say this is a once-every-1,000-years flood, and we’ve had two of them in two years,” he said, calling the event “devastating.” […]“This is worse” than the storm in July 2016, which killed two people and destroyed local businesses, Howard County Executive Allan H. Kittleman said at a news conference Sunday evening. He said he was “heartbroken” and urged people to avoid the area. “This is people’s lives, and they don’t need to have strangers coming around” gawking at the destruction, he said.That July 2016 storm cost the historic mill town tens of millions of dollars in damage and lost business. And the damage was similar Sunday, with many of the same storefronts along Main Street — including the former Caplan’s Department Store — gutted once again. [more]

‘This is worse’: Ellicott City devastated by another flood as heavy rain drenches Baltimore region