A flood caused by an intense rainstorm ripped through the downtown of Ellicott City, Md., late Saturday night, leaving a path of death and destruction that shocked even the most flood-scarred residents and shopkeepers of the old mill town.
Howard County officials Sunday afternoon confirmed that a woman and a man were killed, though the circumstances surrounding their deaths were not clear.
Andy Barth, a spokesman for Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman, said. that several other people who had been reported missing earlier in the day had been accounted for, but a search continued. "It is possible that some people may be found in cars or buildings. We don't know," he said.
"It's worse than any of us expected it to be," Gov. Larry Hogan said Sunday morning as he toured Main Street, where a river of water as high as restaurant awnings had tossed cars, destroyed storefronts, gutted small shops and left huge sinkholes for blocks.
The governor declared a state of emergency.
"What we're going to do, who the hell knows," said J.W. "Pete" Huey, a retiree and local resident who volunteers at the B&O Railroad Museum at the base of Main Street, not far from the community's historic flood marker that lists high water marks of the past. "Mother Nature bats last."
Nestled along the Patapsco River with steep hillsides and rock outcroppings on all sides, Ellicott City is prone to flooding. But what occurred Saturday night was the worst since Tropical Storm Agnes in 1972, many locals said.
Residents and visitors said they saw people being swept down the street in rushing water, along with their cars. They talked of running to upper levels in restaurants and shops, escaping out the back to climb ladders and scale fences to get to higher ground.
Ed Crowl, owner of Wagon Wheel Antique Shop on Tiber Alley, said he has been through Agnes and other flooding in the town, including in 2011, and was "sort of calm now, because it's happened before."
But he didn't have flood insurance on his merchandise, he said, which looked like it was a total loss from the quick peek he was able to take before being moved away from store.
"All the furniture, big tall pieces, just turned upside down," he said. "Big marbletop pieces were turned over, so it was powerful."
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(Sean Welsh, Brittany Britto, Yvonne Wenger and Scott Dance contributed to this report.)
