Flood-inundated city ponders yet another rebirth
ELLICOTT CITY, Md. – Jason Barnes watched helplessly Sunday night as a torrential downpour fueled a fierce river winding through Ellicott City, waters pounding his toy shop and other businesses that had just started to rebound after an eerily similar flood in 2016.
He watched as those trapped inside shops moved to the second floor as the waters rose, some shouting for help.
And he watched as a street where he had parked washed out, pieces of asphalt falling like breadcrumbs as the rapids grew stronger.
Barnes and other weary shop owners are grappling with a cruel reality: How could the unthinkable — a catastrophic flood — happen twice within two years? And should they stay, rebuild and once again be “Ellicott City strong”?
“I honestly don’t know if we’re going to reopen. This is going to be a tough uphill battle, not just for me but for everyone because there are no more reserves, no more backup or savings,” Barnes said, noting he’d poured more than $100,000 into repairs after 2016. “Next year, this might be a ghost town.”
Tuesday, Barnes and other business owners and residents surveyed the devastation as crews took people through the flood zone to grab belongings, cash registers and any other property they might need while workers try to render the area safe.
Searchers found the body of Eddison Alexander Hermond, a resident of near- by Severn and a member of the Army National Guard, in the Patapsco River. Hermond, 39, disappeared while helping a woman in the raging waters.
Ellicott City, 13 miles west of Baltimore along the Patapsco River, was reborn after the floods two years ago that gutted more than 50 businesses, leaving about $22 million in damage.
Sunday’s deluge showed the “thousand-year” storm isn’t such a rare phe- nomenon, leaving the future of this quaint downtown up in the air.
“We can’t keep losing people to this madness,” Barnes said. “These floods go from inches to feet in the blink of an eye. No amount of detection or warnings are going to help. This area isn’t worth saving if it’s going to cost people’s lives.”
The marquee at the historic Ellicott Theater still reads “EC Strong” — the motto that bonded the community after the disaster in 2016.
After the floods ravaged his store, Antique Depot, two years ago, David Robeson and his family started shopping at stores along Main Street they’d never been in before. Competing businesses became a supportive network. “We were all close before the floods, but man, after them, we became like family,” he said.
His family spent more than a month shoveling out dirt, debris and grime that flooded the basement of their store. They never thought they’d have to do it again.
“We’ll stay if we can,” Robeson said. “But we just really don’t know what the future holds anymore.”