ELLICOTT CITY, Md — Main Street in Ellicott City is well-known for its local businesses.
But it is also known for having devastating floods—floods that forced businesses to shut down or relocate.
One man I spoke with told me he remembers just how bad the floods were in 2016 and most recently in 2018.
“Some things we saw is poor Tally’s. He had just done all the reservations on the upstairs deck and everything, and it was a really great job he had done, and then it was just months after that that the flood came through and just destroyed it all for him," says Greg, who lives in Ellicott City.
The memory and devastation of those floods are why County Executive Calvin Ball says he made it his mission to create a plan to prevent the same damage from future flooding.
Since 2018, the county has finished many parts of the flood mitigation plan, including two retention ponds, which together hold 7.5 million gallons of water.
The next phase, which is almost done, is the demolition of four historic buildings on Lower Main Street.
“We know that the buildings are actually were constricting the water and so from the water at the top of the Main Street all the way down to the Patapsco is actually gaining speed and velocity and volume so we wanted to open up this channel so the water could actually flow more safely and make sure we keep people out of harms way," Calvin Ball, County Executive.
The county began tearing down the buildings in January; now what’s left are parts of the foundations of the buildings and the stream below.
People say they are optimistic for the future of Ellicott City, even though it is hard to get rid of history.
“It was kind of eerie the first time I drove through, but I’m hoping it helps, and I hope it brings back more businesses.”
“Ellicott City is in jeopardy of another big flood, and if something wasn’t done to mitigate the constrictions in the flow, we’d be right back here again, and my biggest concern is that all of the shop owners would just abandon and leave so then Ellicott city would become a ghost town, and we want to see it thrive and revive and be like it was,” says Greg, who lives in Ellicott.
Since the buildings were torn down brick by brick, the county was able to salvage many materials from the buildings, including granite, ironwork, doors, and windows.
Materials they can use for future development projects.
