'If Hell has water...then this is what it's like' says business owner in Maryland city battered by flooding

Record ID: 1355913

  • Title: 'If Hell has water...then this is what it's like' says business owner in Maryland city battered by flooding
  • Date: 12th September 2018
  • Summary: ELLICOTT CITY, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES (SEPTEMBER 11, 2018) (REUTERS) PAN FROM STRIPPED WALLS OF TEAM ROOM TO ENTRANCE JONES POINTING TO SPOT ON STAIRWAY TO SECOND FLOOR TO INDICATE THE WATER LEVEL FROM MOST RECENT FLOODING
  • Embargoed: 26th September 2018 03:21
  • Keywords: Florence storm hurricane Ellicott City Maryland flooding
  • Location: ELLICOTT CITY, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES
  • City: ELLICOTT CITY, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Floods
  • Reuters ID: LVA0038XBMA87
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Battered by recent flash floods and still reeling from the 2016's torrential rain, Ellicott City is bracing for more rain as Hurricane Florence prepares to pummel parts of the U.S.
    On Tuesday (September 11), people could be seen boarding up storefronts all along Main Street in the Maryland city's historic downtown area. Sandbags were also being distributed at a local church. Crews were also busy installing all types of drainage pipes and tubing to help divert water from properties throughout the business district.
    Fierce winds and massive waves are expected to lash the coasts of North and South Carolina and Virginia even before Florence makes landfall on Friday (September 14), and its rains will take a heavy toll for miles inland, the National Hurricane Center in Miami warned.
    Linda Jones, the owner of the Tea on the Tiber tea room in Ellicott City, said she and her fellow business owners are losing sleep over the approaching Category 4 storm.
    "Everybody's frightened...We have panic attacks if they mention rain...you know,"Jones said. "We've been through Hell."
    Jones and dozens of other Ellicott City business owners saw their investments destroyed by what was dubbed a "one in 1,000 year" flood in 2016. The area received almost 6 inches (15 cm) of rain in two hours in August of 2016 as thunderstorms moved through the region, causing the Tiber, a tributary of the Patapsco River, to break its banks.
    Any hope of rebuilding in the wake of that downpour were exstinguished by flash floods earlier this year.
    "If Hell has water, then...this what it's like," Jones said.
    Packing maximum sustained winds of 140 miles per hour (225 km per hour), the storm is expected to grow stronger and larger over the next few days, the NHC said.
    While maps of Florence's trajectory showed the center of the storm most likely to strike the southern coast of North Carolina, the NHC stressed the effects of Florence would be widely felt.
    Tropical storm-force winds could extend nearly 300 miles across three states.
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