Sierra Club Statement on Ellicott City Flood of 2018

June 1, 2018

   MD SC Logo                  Maryland Chapter  

7338 Baltimore Avenue, Suite 102

College Park, MD 20740-3211

Contact
Josh Tulkin, Josh.Tulkin@mdsierra.org
Zack Gerdes, Zack.Gerdes@mdsierra.org

Sierra Club Statement on Ellicott City Flood of 2018

Date: June 1, 2018

On Sunday May 27th, 2018, parts of Ellicott City, MD experienced between 5.36 inches and 10.38 inches of rain in about three hours according to the National Weather Service’s Baltimore-Washington forecast office. This downpour caused flash flooding in much of Historic Ellicott City, specifically down Main St. In comparison, Ellicott City was hit by 6.5 inches of rain during the storm of 2016.

The economic and environmental impact of this storm will be severe. While we do not yet know the full impact, the 2016 flooding of Ellicott City caused County economic activity to be reduced by $67.2 million, with a resulting loss of 151 jobs and labor income reductions of $27.2 million with County government revenue losses of as much as $1.3 million. With the increase in rainfall this time, we can expect similar if not higher costs. This economic impact is on top of the significant environmental and human impacts. One person lost their life and the flood sent cars, sediment, and other pollutants into our waterways, flooded businesses and homes.

The Maryland Sierra Club and Howard County Sierra Club Group stand with Ellicott City in the aftermath of this flood. While we begin to recover, it is important that we make sure all business owners and residents are supported as they grapple with the fact that they have endured another horrific experience less than two years apart. In the days to come, our priority should be on health and safety of the people who were impacted by this flood. And we encourage people to consider a contribution via The United Way of Central Maryland or the The Howard County Food Bank (9385 Gerwig Lane J, Columbia).

Throughout and following the recovery process, it is important to also discuss the history and context of this disaster - the unnatural, man-made elements that played a role, and to focus on what we CAN do and what changes can be made, to avert these types of disasters in the future.

One year after the 2016 flood, the Sierra Club, along with several partners, submitted a statement of values advocating for strong stormwater management and smart development principles to the County Council and Executive. We asked the County officials to consider and adopt these recommendations as they developed the Ellicott City Watershed Master Plan.

In light of this disaster, we are renewing our recommendation to Howard County to:

  • Halt all development within the Tiber-Hudson watershed. Howard County has already developed most of the watershed upstream of downtown Ellicott City, removing the natural landscape that absorbed and slowed runoff downstream. Now we must stop further development which will only worsen future floods.

  • Begin Forest Conservation and Reforestation efforts. Ellicott City and the surrounding area have removed much of the forest area that served to mitigate some of the runoff. The County should prioritize Green Infrastructure techniques wherever possible, including tree plantings; creation of native plant landscapes; and Regenerative Stormwater Conveyances used on erosion-prone uplands and hillslopes.

  • Commit to transitioning to 100% clean renewable energy and actively support efforts to move Maryland in the same direction.  

Although these two massive flooding events occurred within two years of each other, both of these storms have been described by experts as 1,000 year floods. As a community, we must face the fact that as climate change worsens, we will see an increase in severe weather events. It will be important for our elected officials to take a serious look at how we prepare for these events. While no single storm can be attributed to climate change, we must take responsibility and own up to the fact that the actions we are taking are causing more severe weather disasters like the flood we just experienced.

Additionally, while the County has been engaged in a public input process following the 2016 flood, there have been repeated calls from community members to pause development until the issue could be studied more closely. Sierra Club believes it is past time to take these suggestions seriously. Ellicott City cannot afford to continue development in such a sensitive area.

We may not have control over severe weather events (except by fighting climate change), we can take ownership over the role that development played in this disaster. Ellicott City must pay extra attention to this issue as it is a floodplain and at increased risk for flash floods. It will be very important for the next Howard County Executive and Council to re-examine County development and prioritize better planning and development controls in this sensitive area. Residents and business owners have spent the past two years rebuilding following the last flood. Unless significant changes are made, Ellicott City may rebuild only to face the same threat in the future.


Signed,

Josh Tulkin, Director

Sierra Club Maryland Chapter

&

Joanne Heckman, Chair

Carolyn Parsa, Conservation Chair

Sierra Club Howard County Group

 

More info on the flood: