Main Street in Ellicott City has had extreme flash floods two times in the past 2 years. I used to live there and have friends that still do and that have lost their businesses, not once but twice. I know that it's location and the build up of the community around it is the main cause of the flooding, but they called the first one 100-year storm (6 inches in 3 hours) and then it happened again 2 years later (8 inches in 4 hours). There was flooding in Baltimore County and City the same day. If extreme weather events are part of global warming and if the NE has had an increase in extreme rain events in the past few years, then I don't see how we can dismiss these two events as not climate change related.
We have been talking about this in my class too. And about how the development in the area has increased the impermeable surfaces in the watershed. And also about how the town was built there to be near the water to power the mill. While those issues aren't directly connected to climate change, population growth and changes in fuel use/consumption definitely are. It is interesting to me how many of the challenges that we are facing are all tied together. When you pull at one thread, you find so much connected to it.
smiles,
kathy
Kathy you're exactly right - these issues are extremely complex and often transcend a single "cause." It's important to consider all of the elements. There are a bunch of good news articles that help to breakdown the situation, here's one: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2018/05/28/the-second-1000-year-rainstorm-in-two-years-engulfed-ellicott-city-heres-how-it-happened/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.bcf5b10a9f99
Hi Carole,
I have thought about Ellicott City after these events, too. I wonder what will happen in the future since these 100-year (2-year storms) have caused such devastating floods. I searched around to see if I could find answers, yet my brief poking around left me without an answer. I think about what is happening to the small business owners who were hit twice in 2 years, and how they are coping.