Catastrophic floods struck Old Ellicott City 10 years ago, changing the mill town forever

The massive flood that swept away two lives in Old Ellicott City in late July 10 years ago altered the old mill town.

Six inches of stormwater from what experts called a 1-in-1,000 rain event streamed into the steep valley, overwhelmed the banks of the tiny Tiber River and rampaged 6 feet high down Main Street, leaving behind a thick layer of mud and destruction.

Main Street remains quaint with historic stone buildings, glass-front shops and church steeples, but there are striking differences and the recovery isn’t over.

Business owners who set out to rebuild saw their efforts wash away 18 months later when a nearly identical cloudburst flooded the town. Of the 90-some businesses based along Main Street today, fewer than a dozen that weathered the 2016 flood remain.

Some who scrambled to survive as water poured into their businesses decided that returning wasn’t worth the risk.

Meanwhile, county officials argued over what to do to ease future flooding. After the 2018 flood, the debate grew heated, upending county elections. Officials eventually settled on a costly plan involving stormwater retention ponds around the valley and a milelong tunnel under the town to divert rainwater into the Patapsco River and relieve the Tiber. Dubbed “Ellicott City Safe and Sound,” it is the jurisdiction’s largest public works project and it’s several years behind schedule and way over budget.

Today, safety measures added in case it happens again are easy to spot, too. Speaker towers stand ready to blare a loud tone when flash flooding is imminent. Yellow signs point toward higher ground.

It’s all meant to encourage visitors and businesses to return to Ellicott City. County Executive Calvin Ball underscored that sentiment in April, during the unveiling of a new clock tower to replace those lost in 2016 and 2018.

The county’s efforts, Ball said, are “our way of making sure that the road ahead is a lot safer than the one behind.”

2016: Abandon shop

As torrents of rain fell on July 30, 2016, Matt Milani grew worried.

The owner of the Rumor Mill Fusion Bar & Restaurant on Tiber Alley, just above where the usually sleepy Tiber was diverted into a large culvert under the lower part of Old Ellicott City, borrowed an umbrella and stepped outside.

His restaurant, which opened in 2007, had withstood past floods, but this time water covered Main Street’s center lines.

Ordinary thunderstorms deliver about an inch of rain in an hour, but that day’s cloudburst dumped 6 inches in three hours.

As water surged up the eatery’s bay window, Milani moved patrons and staff to the second floor. With the water still rising, everyone climbed an extension ladder to the roof and scaled a 6-foot fence to higher ground.

“It’s all gone,” Milani told his wife and business partner, Lexi Milani, when he finally got home that evening.

In the following days, the Milanis labored in the summer heat to assess the damage. Six inches of mud coated the floors. Food rotted inside unsalvageable fridges. Mildew turned to darker mold.

The couple decided they couldn’t return to Tiber Alley if they wanted to reopen. Milani only narrowly evaded harm when the water burst through the restaurant’s back door, and they had a new baby to think about.

The Milanis told the staff to seek other jobs while they searched for a new space.

A decade later, the couple have not opened another restaurant, though they daydream about concepts and locations.

Milani now cooks for Gov. Wes Moore and his family at Government House in Annapolis.

Their friends who own businesses in Ellicott City still close them during bad storms, Lexi Milani said.

“They either know people won’t come,” she said, “or they don’t want to be there.”

2018: To tunnel or not

The debate over the county’s flood mitigation plan simmered after 2016. The 2018 flood caused tensions to explode.

Then-County Executive Allan Kittleman, a Republican, and Ellicott City Councilman Jon Weinstein, a Democrat, launched a five-year, $50 million plan to open pinch points by razing 10 buildings on lower Main Street, allowing stormwater to flow more quickly through town.

Some historic preservations and residents pushed to avoid demolishing buildings by boring a tunnel to divert floodwater into the nearby Patapsco. The plan would have cost an estimated $140 million and taken longer to complete.

Neither proposal guaranteed against future floods. The demolition plan still risked 5.5 feet of water along Main Street if a storm like the one in 2016 happened again. And the tunnel can move only 26,000 gallons per second — roughly the equivalent of a Trader Joe’s filled with 6 inches of water.

An election in 2018 settled the matter.

Then-Councilman Calvin Ball, a Democrat, defeated Kittleman in the county executive race. After study, his administration chose a plan to construct a series of ponds, culverts and a 1,600-foot tunnel by mid-2025.

The project’s scope and cost have grown since. The tunnel will extend a mile and is expected to cost $141 million alone. Three out of five planned stormwater ponds have been built.

Construction of the tunnel began this summer after the arrival of a massive boring machine dubbed “Rocky” in April. The tunnel is due to be completed by the end of 2027. Overall, the county has secured $350 million for the entire project.

Weinstein said Kittleman’s plan would have been finished by now. For the amount of money being spent, he said, the county could have distributed ample relief to businesses and residents — “maybe even painted the street with gold.”

Weinstein now lives in New Mexico but still visits Ellicott City and worries about future floods.

Of the 10 buildings Kittleman wanted to demolish, the county has razed four but removed just the rear portions of the others. County leaders want to sell the properties, telling state authorities the county can’t fully restore them.

Ball stands by his plan, citing Ellicott City’s role as the county’s second-largest economic driver behind Columbia.

If the town loses hundreds of jobs and tens of millions of dollars in revenue every time it floods, it would be “fiscally irresponsible not to make the appropriate investments,” Ball said.

“Ellicott City’s best days have been the last few years, and even better days are ahead,” he said.

Today: The more things change

It’s a good year in Ellicott City.

More than half a dozen businesses have opened or are slated to, said Julia Sanger, president of the Ellicott City Partnership, which represents the historic district’s small businesses. That’s up from the last few years, which saw just one or two new openings, she said.

People don’t ask as much about the floods, save for tourists who wonder how high the water rose, Sanger said.

“There are a lot of people who have faith that the progress that’s been made has eliminated the problem,” said Sanger, acknowledging the town hasn’t been tested with storms as bad as 2016 and 2018.

To encourage more visitors, the county invested in a free weekend shuttle service along Main Street and a voucher program to promote spending at local businesses. A Saturday farmers market regularly draws people to Tiber Park.

And some business owners doubled down on Ellicott City.

This month, The Wine Bin’s owner, Dave Carney, soft launched his new restaurant, Vesper at Pike & Main.

The concept dates to 2018, when the second flood put his plans on hold. It took eight years, he said, but “everything fell into place.”

Carney understands the risks. He scaled a cherry tree to escape the 2016 flood.

It helps that Vesper’s building at 8210 Main St. fared OK in the disaster.

“I try not to worry about it,” he said.