OELLA, Md. — The devastating flash floods that ravaged historic Ellicott City for the second time in two years have brought torrents of support and concern for the Howard County tourist destination — a far cry from the response for people who live on the other side of the Patapsco River.
Standing in a small park, on Oella Avenue, next to a small makeshift shrine for Eddison Hermond, who was swept off Main Street in Ellicott City during last week’s flash flooding, and whose body was recovered nearby, Melissa Schwarz said her neighborhood suffered far worse flood damage than in 2016.
“On the other side of the bridge, here on the Baltimore County side, I don’t think there’s been a whole lot of support, options or assistance, for now,” said Schwarz. “They’ve done debris removal.”
Schwarz lives in Catonsville, “near the top of a hill, so you wouldn’t think we would need flood insurance.”
While Ellicott City officials have said they were overwhelmed by more than 7 inches of rain in a short period of time, Schwarz said Catonsville “had 10.3 inches — we had 12 inches come down in our backyard.”
“There was literally a river flowing through our backyard, which ultimately came in, and we had 6 to 8 inches throughout our entire basement.”
Keepsakes, furniture, drywall, carpet, electronics and weightlifting equipment were destroyed, she said.
“We have a 30-yard dumpster sitting in our driveway, which is almost full right now,” she said. A dumpster that size measures 22 feet in length, 7 and a half feet wide and 6 feet high.
Looking at the barricades blocking access to the bridge, “which takes one minute to drive over if it’s not backed up,” between Oella and Ellicott City, Schwarz said its closure doesn’t just affect those in the historic part of Howard County.
“This bridge was closed for months,” during 2016 flooding, Schwarz said. “This is a main thoroughfare, so it’s impacting all of us right now.”
While worried about her family’s recovery from the devastating flood, she’s also worried for the Main Street community, and sadly realizes some of her favorite shops will choose not to rebuild.
“We’ve had some of our most monumental milestones in life celebrated down here,” she said. “All these places, understandably so, are in this crucial moment of ‘What do we do?'”
