![]() The 100 and 500-year floodplains in the Ellicott City catchment in blue and red, respectively. Main Street follows the steep valley of the Tiber down to the Patapsco River. It was a mill town said to be built around seven hills through which streams converge on a small river, aptly named the Tiber. Today, Ellicott City is part of the Baltimore metropolitan area, but it originated as a rural community that prospered by harnessing the location’s great potential for water power. Most were associated with the Patapsco River, but according to Preservation Maryland, last week’s event was Ellicott City’s 15 th catastrophic flash flood since 1768. Sadly, such inundation is nothing new for Ellicott City, for it has experienced many major floods in the past. ![]() This event hit the headlines, thanks to dramatic video footage and because it is even worse than the major flooding there in July 2016. Late in the afternoon two waves of intense flooding surged down picturesque Main Street up to 8 feet deep, inundating first floors and basements, washing vehicles away, and depositing tons of debris and mud tragically, a life was lost. Further, videos also capture additional information on floods and damage caused that is valuable to rescue teams, insurance companies etc.On May 27 dramatic flash flooding wreaked havoc in the historic center of Ellicott City, 13 miles west of Baltimore in Maryland. Information such as water levels and surface velocities can be extracted from these videos and used as part of an existing flood warning system or an independent one. It is clear that the videos captured from these security cameras provide a rich source of water information of the rivers and the Main Street. ![]() They are also working on using the local flood related information from social media such as Twitter into the flood alter algorithm which warns public through loudspeakers in the city. The city officials are looking into introducing green areas in the city to allow the rain water to be absorbed into the ground reducing the surface runoff.Īssociate Professor Nirmalya Roy and his group from University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) are working on using a network of temperature and liquid sensors and have produced a new flood warning system for Ellicott City. However, flooding is nothing new to this city. Both 20 events claimed lives and caused millions of dollars in damage. This was the second 1-in-1000 flood event within two years in Ellicott City. Due to the urban landscape the rainfall has nowhere to go except for running down the valley to the main river. ![]() The old city is a very urban area set in a valley next to Patapsco River and its four tributaries. The cameras were installed by a local property owner, Ron Peters and can be seen in this YouTube video:Ī storm released nearly two months of rain, over 9 inches (24cm) in just two hours (3 to 5pm local time), which swept away several roads, cars and brought more than 10 feet (3.0 m) of rapidly moving water down Main Street in the Old Ellicott City. ![]() The map showing Ellicott City, Maryland and adjacent rivers. The flood lasted only four hours but caused catastrophic damage to local infrastructure, residents property, and claimed a life of a National Guardsman. We see how this results in the Main Street also becoming a fast flowing river with water washing away cars, destroying buildings, and accumulating debris. The videos clearly show how the Patapsco River and two out of its four tributaries (Tiber River and Hudson River) rapidly swell and overflow. The information from these videos would have been useful at the time of the flooding. The video is a collage of 12 cameras all located on or near the Main Street in Ellicott City. We have come across an illustrating source of a network of security cameras capturing a flash flood in Ellicott City, Maryland, US on Sunday 27th of May 2018. ![]()
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