A woman became trapped in her vehicle when a flash flood hit downtown Ellicott City, Maryland. A human chain rescued 29-year-old Jamie Knight from her auto in the middle of the raging floodwaters, according to a two-minute video that has spread nationwide. Continuous rainfall during the town’s historic flooding Saturday night made a rescue look impossible on the town’s now-unrecognizable Main Street until Barnes led the charge to form a human chain.
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A Pennsylvania woman visiting Ellicott with her family was one of those killed, when their vehicle was caught in the waters and dragged toward the Patapsco River.
Two visitors to the town west of Baltimore dating to the 18th century, Jessica Watsula, 35, and Joseph Blevins, 38, died after officials said the waters of the Patapsco River swept their cars away Saturday night.
Nearly six inches of rain – almost a month’s worth – fell in Ellicott City, Maryland on Saturday between 7 and 9pm.
Severely damaged were antique shops, restaurants, a toy store and a beloved bar steps from the Patapsco River that local officials say opened their doors to feed rescue crews who responded to a fatal train derailment, the small city’s last disaster. The flooding was worse than that from Hurricane Agnes in 1972, when a bridge and historic structures were wiped out, Kittleman said.
One Maryland resident says, “Within five minutes it was panic and my friend was pulling someone out of there and I’ve never seen anything like it”.
Jason Barnes waded into the water as it raged around the woman’s auto.
“Everything funneled toward that Main Street area”.
“I’m grateful. I’m very thankful”, Knight told WUSA-TV.
So many “1-in-1,000 year” rainfalls is unprecedented, meteorologist Steve Bowen of Aon Benfield, a global reinsurance firm said after a heavy rain event in 2015.
He said Ellicott City would recover eventually, but some business owners may not be able to wait long enough to reopen.
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency, as did Kittleman. He says she was thrilled when she got the job in the past year because it enabled her to spend more time at home and at the church, where she volunteered in a child-care program.
“I now have signed Executive Order 2016-07 to ask the County Council to reconvene in a special session as soon as practically possible to consider legislation to extend the State of Emergency”.
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The cost of repairs on Main St. could run into the hundreds of millions of dollars, county officials said.
