The storm dumped 6.5 inches of rain on Ellicott City in only about 3 hours, with 5.5 inches falling in just 90 minutes, the National Weather Service said.
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She finally works up the nerve to climb out the window, where one of the men grabs her and drags her to safety. “The water is coming in and pushing up the floor”, the woman said. “We can feel the building crumbling a little bit”, she says on the call, before she and her companions find an exit to higher ground through a back door.
As part of Maryland’s comprehensive response to recent flooding in Howard County, the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development is offering a number of programs that will help impacted households and business owners, including increased funding or additional flexibility for previously submitted applications to assist the city.
For now, the clock’s hands stand still at 9:20 p.m., likely the time it was uprooted from its home, and it will be Ellicott City residents who decide how long it remains frozen at that time, Kittleman said.
David Dempster recorded the rescue, in which a man who was part of the rescue was swept away.
The bodies were recovered after they were killed in separate incidents when they were carried off by the rushing water, reportedly. More than 170 inoperable vehicles were stranded in the Main Street area and along the river.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before”, Maisonet said. The two people killed, 35-year-old Jessica Watsula of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, and 38-year-old Joseph Blevins of Windsor Mill, Maryland, were both in vehicles that were overcome by floodwaters, according to officials.
Kittleman said the money would help pay for infrastructure improvements to make the town more resilient to flooding.
The Democratic senator addressed the media alongside Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman, a Republican.
Gov. Larry Hogan has declared a state of emergency, allowing the state to send resources to assist in cleanup efforts, a process that is expected to take months.
It was Saturday night when a group of strangers risked their own lives to pull a woman out of a vehicle as flood waters rushed by. Eight buildings in historic Ellicott City have major structural concerns.
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He ran into the raging waters, but lost his footing and started to be swept away himself.
