Authorities in Howard County, Maryland, were searching Monday for a National Guardsman who was swept away as he tried to help a woman find her cat during a flood Sunday in Ellicott City — the second deluge to strike the historic town in two years.
Eddison Alexander Hermond, 39, was helping a woman outside a Mexican restaurant on Main Street when he was swept away by floodwaters, Howard County Police said during a press conference Monday afternoon.
Mr. Hermond had been helping other people in the restaurant hold the front door closed against a torrent generated by a sudden, massive downpour Sunday afternoon, authorities said.
About 4 p.m. Sunday, the deluge raced down Main Street, and videos on social media networks showed rapid muddy water crashing through the historic downtown section of Ellicott City. Cars were swept away in the torrent, and a number of buildings damaged.
In the restaurant, a woman approached Mr. Hermond and others saying she was trying to find her cat behind the building, and when they went to help her look, people saw Mr. Hermond go under the water but not resurface, police said.
Firefighters and rescue personnel said Monday that they were still in active rescue mode and had people and dogs searching both sides of the nearby river for any victims.
PHOTOS: Maryland community heartbroken after second flood in 2 years
Emergency services received about 1,100 calls starting around 4 p.m. Sunday and assisted 300 individuals from hazardous areas affected by the storm.
Between 24 and 30 emergency rescues took place, including stranded individuals and water rescues.
Officials urged residents and business owners Monday to avoid downtown Ellicott City. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan described Main Street as “dangerous” with open manholes and collapsed buildings.
During a press briefing late Sunday, Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman was emotional in discussing the situation, saying he believes the damage has exceeded a devastating flood that occurred in the town just two years ago.
“I don’t think I’m without exaggeration saying that this is worse than July 30, 2016,” Mr. Kittleman said. “I can tell you my heart is broken thinking about what the people had gone through here and peoples lives who were devastated two years ago and they rebuilt, and now they’re faced with the same daunting task again.”
Two people were killed and about $10 million worht of damage occurred in the 2016 flood. It took about three months for some of Main Street’s more than140 businesses to reopen after the flood.
Nathan Sowers, an Ellicott City resident and business owner, told The Associated Press he was feeling overwhelmed Monday at the prospect of rebuilding again.
“We’ll see. It takes a lot of money and a lot of time,” he said, adding that other locals were laughing and joking Monday morning, keeping spirits high.
The chance of a flash flood of this magnitude occurring is about one-tenth of one percent, said Kevin Whitt, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service out of Sterling, Virginia.
“Because we had a lot of rain [in the past two weeks], the ground is relatively saturated and so it might only take an inch per hour or an inch and a half per hour-rate to make things flood,” he said.
On Sunday, most of the 8 inches of rain that fell in Ellicott City — about 12 miles west of Baltimore — occurred during a three-hour period.
More rain is expected later this week with the potential for more flooding, Mr. Whitt said, but the threat of flash floods should be relatively low.
Earlier this month, the Federal Emergency Management Agency awarded Maryland more than $1 million for flood-mitigation efforts, with Mr. Hogan saying it took two years to secure that funding and that “it’s ironic that we just got it this month.”
He added that the state had provided about $5 million in loans and assistance to the city.
“No body expected another storm of this magnitude to come through two years later because, as I said, they were only supposed to happen every 1,000 years,” the governor said.
Only a week earlier, Mr. Kittleman announced improved flood-warning systems for Ellicott City in a press conference where he was joined by officials from the Department of Homeland Security and the National Weather Service.
The initiative, planned to start in June, includes dozens of advanced sensors along river banks that are likely to rise and flood the small city. It is one part of a master plan formulated in 2015 to make the city more resilient.
• Laura Kelly can be reached at lkelly@washingtontimes.com.
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