Old Ellicott City 10 Years After the Flood

Sunday morning: mostly sunny then slight chance showers and thunderstorms, high near 84 degrees. East wind 1 to 6 mph.

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This Thursday marks 10 years since a flash flood turned Main Street in Old Ellicott City into a raging river, sweeping away two lives and gutting the historic mill town. Most of the businesses that lined Main Street before that night are gone. Howard County is now $350 million into building a flood diversion tunnel and a series of stormwater ponds meant to keep it from happening again. Flood warning horns and signs pointing toward higher ground are up along the street. County officials say the recovery is still ongoing, a decade later. It remains the largest flood control investment in county history, and this week's anniversary is bringing new attention to how much of Main Street still hasn't come back.

Three longtime Main Street business owners are speaking out this week about the July 2016 flood that tore through Old Ellicott City in minutes, and what it took to reopen their shops. Their firsthand accounts are part of this week's coverage marking the flood's tenth anniversary, a personal counterpoint to the county's ongoing tunnel project.

Muse plays Merriweather Post Pavilion Tuesday night, gates at 5:30. The Red Clay Strays headline the same stage Thursday. And next Sunday, August 2nd, Weird Al Yankovic brings his Bigger and Weirder tour to Merriweather. Tickets and set times are on Merriweather's site.

In Howard County, data center development has been put on hold, according to Streetcar Suburbs Publishing. At Toby's Dinner Theatre, Peter Rabbit is now on stage for families. The Howard County school board posted its 2025-26 Community Advisory Council meeting minutes and its full July meeting schedule on BoardDocs. At the Elkridge library branch today, a certified peer recovery specialist from the county health department is on hand from 11:30 to 5. Also at Elkridge, Play Partners meets this morning for infants up to 23 months and their grown-ups, 9:30 to 10. At the Savage branch, Little Learners covers summer science for ages 3 to 5 starting at 10 this morning. Savage also runs a Photography Camp and a Photography Club back to back starting at 10. WMAR is running its own look back at the 2016 flood this week, with archival video of Main Street underwater. Merriweather's summer lineup keeps growing: Thomas Rhett headlines August 13th, the Fray and Dashboard Confessional play August 14th, and Zac Brown Band closes out the run August 15th. If you're job hunting, Howard County's Office of Human Resources posts open county government roles on its site.

What gets me this week is the timing. We're heading into the tenth anniversary of the Ellicott City flood right as a stray thunderstorm chance shows up in today's forecast. Doesn't mean anything, the tunnel's built for exactly that. But it's a good week to actually read what those Main Street business owners are saying about what they'd do differently if the water ever comes back. And with data center projects paused countywide, I'm curious what happens to that land next.

That's the brief. Full version, newsletter, and archive at hocobrief.com. Send me your tips through the site. See you tomorrow morning.