On this date in 2016, 6.5 inches of rain fell in just over two hours in Ellicott City, Md., resulting in devastating flooding. “What the National Weather Service is calling an ‘off-the-charts’ thousand-year rainfall event created a harrowing drama involving 120 swift-water rescues, dozens of ruined cars, demolished businesses and two fatalities,” Capital Weather Gang’s Jeff Halverson wrote after the storm.
The disaster unfolded on a warm Saturday evening as an intense thunderstorm stalled over the Patapsco River valley west of Baltimore. Rain fell at astonishing rates, in some cases 4 to 6 inches per hour, overwhelming the area’s steep hillsides and narrow drainage network. Water rushed downhill into the historic Main Street district, transforming roads into raging rivers.
Cars were swept away and stacked atop one another. Storefront windows shattered as muddy water surged through downtown businesses. Videos captured terrifying scenes of people clinging to poles and storefronts while floodwaters roared around them. Emergency crews carried out dramatic rescues through the night as stranded residents and visitors sought refuge in upper floors of buildings.
Two people were killed in the flood, including a National Guardsman whose vehicle was swept from the roadway. Damage was estimated in the tens of millions of dollars. The flooding destroyed or severely damaged scores of businesses in Ellicott City’s historic downtown.
The storm was extraordinary efficiency at producing rainfall. The atmosphere was loaded with tropical moisture, and weak steering winds allowed the thunderstorm complex to repeatedly redevelop over the same area, a process known as “training.” The rainfall intensity was so extreme that some gauges and statistical rainfall estimates struggled to capture the magnitude of the event.
It was the first of two massive floods to hit the area in less than three years. A second disastrous rainstorm struck Ellicott City on May 27, 2018, bringing another catastrophic flash flood to the recovering downtown.
See these links for more coverage of the 2016 event:
- This is how an ‘off-the-charts’ flood ravaged Ellicott City
- Two dead after severe flash flood in Maryland
- Video and photos: Horrific flooding in ‘ruined’ Ellicott City, Md.
- Ellicott City: a town of many, many floods
- After deadly flash flood, concern about development’s impact on Ellicott City
Here are other notables from this day:
- Average high: 89
- Average low: 72
- Record high: 99 (1953)
- Record low: 56 (1914)
- Record rainfall: 4.25 inches (1878)
