Two lives forever lost. But traditions, ten years later, have kept their spirits alive.

Cheering on their favorite college sports team.

Spreading roses, or maybe even candy hearts, where all can see.

The night of July 30, 2016 was a Saturday when Ellicott City was a buzz with families and visitors enjoying a summer weekend, a night to enjoy the historic town.

38-year-old Joe Blevins and 35-year-old Jessica Watsula were doing just that. But their nights would end in tragedy.

Blevins fiance, Heather Owens, recalls the moment she learned he would never return home again. Nursing her own wounds, physical and mental from the floodwaters in the hospital, the news came from a Howard County officer.

My entire life was ripped from me in like two seconds, and I didnt know how to function, she said.

He's now been gone as many years as they were together.

He was larger than life, I swear, she said. It was so weird. He just understood how to do things. He was so resourceful, and I just, I can't believe that the flood took him.

The pair, who frequently visited the town with Blevins children, drove in that night to play Pokmon Go, all the rage that summer. But waiting out the rain in the towns main parking lot, things only got worse. Owens saw dumpsters floating, and fearing the worst, Blevins began to drive home.

Their car ended up washing down Main Street and into the Patapsco River.

In that moment I felt so distant from him. Like he felt like a million miles away. That was like the last thing I said was We're gonna die.

Only, Owens would live. Not a strong swimmer, she says she grabbed a branch that brought her to safety. It's something she's only recently been able to speak about publicly.

I have no idea how I survived, she said. But I'm here, Im gonna share my story as long as I live.

Shes started a podcast called I Grabbed a Branch a nod to her survival, in more ways than one.

Part of her healing comes from holding true to Blevins Virginia Tech roots. She still cheers on their football team and wears the scarlet and orange to feel closer to him.

Twice a year, on the anniversary and his birthday, she comes to a tree located at that same parking lot thats dedicated in his honor.

I feel like his presence is still here. It just makes me feel like at home when Im with the tree, she said.

The tree sits next to another, for Watsula.

Sometimes her family meets there, but oftentimes her brother Curtis Baker Jr. heads further down the river to a tree that holds somber significance.

Its where she was found after the waters receded. Where his journey to find her that night ended.

It's easy to forget about things and, and we get all get very busy with life, so for me this is my little time of reflecting on her and her life, Brubaker said.

Watsula was having a girls night with her mother, sister and sister-in-law at the former Portalis restaurant that night.

All four were swept away, but Watsula was the only one unaccounted for.

Brubaker raced down from Pennsylvania when he heard.

I didn't even think twice about it. I mean, that's my little sister. If it would have been any of my family members, I would have been doing the same thing, he said.

Sometimes hell visit with family. His niece, Sarah Watsula, joins him often.

She was 10 at the time she lost her mother, but still remembers her larger-than-life personality, her spunk and adventurous spirit.

My mom was always very outgoing and bubbly, she was the life of the party, so we always had a lot of fun when we did anything with her, Watsula said.

She was a little 51 powerhouse. She was a gym rat. She loved working out. She was super strong and fit. She had a huge smile and she had a very contagious laugh, Brubaker recalled.

Every year, they scatter roses along the rocks in the river by the Frederick Road bridge, to remind others to keep her memory alive.

Sometimes even they'll make a game out of it to see if they can land on the same spots as the year before. Or occasionally, theyll throw in red hot candies, Watsulas favorite.

Tammy Beideman loves a good window display.

Her shop, Sweet Elizabeth Jane, has become known on Main Street in Old Ellicott City for its colorful, vibrant displays, whether for a holiday, a season, or another theme.

"I always had this passion to light up Main Street with the windows, to make it feel more vibrant and creative," she said.

Her elaborate displays started in her store's first location, the former Caplan's building, in the heart of town. She opened the doors in 2011.

"Oh, I loved those windows. They were so magical; there was so much opportunity to light up the town, and when I opened that store, that was my only form of advertising," Beideman said.

Everything was going well until the night of July 30, 2016.

"I'll never forget that night. It was obviously heartbreaking and traumatic and terrifying as we had actually had girls in the building at the time who floated out on cars," she said.

"We had to wait to see if they were going to be OK. It took hours to find them even that night, so that night itself was for me really dramatic."

The girls were found, and Beideman was relieved they were okay. The focus then shifted to the damage to her store.

The building was gutted, most of the merchandise carried out by the floods. They found merchandise strewn in trees and shrubs miles away from the store.

"The power of the water just literally emptied out over 4,000 square feet in a matter of 15 minutes," she said.

On the night of July 30, the Phoenix Emporium was filled with customers; it was, after all, a Saturday night.

"I was out with my family at a movie, and I got a call from one of my employees that expressed how bad it was. He was talking to me with one phone and had 911 on the other line."

As the first floor flooded, the employees moved everyone up to the second floor. They would all make it out safely once the floodwaters receded. When Hemmis got to the town, he was shocked by what he saw.

"There was such utter devastation to the infrastructure in town that there were gas lines that were snapped everywhere," he said. "I do get emotional sometimes when I talk about it. A lot of the stories that have gone on [about the] Ellicott City flooding are about the rebuild. There was a lot of loss that day as well."

Water started to fill his basement, so he tried to leave and get to his car. The floodwaters got too high, so he climbed a cherry tree to safety.

"I'm sitting in the tree watching the dumpsters float [by]. Cars are floating. They looked like little tiny boxcars. Just everything was just floating around. It was surreal. It was weird. It was just bizarre."

Once the waters subsided, chaos and destruction remained.

"I had people calling me, customers and friends out of state who have businesses here. And I just was like, the town's gone. It's gone," he said. "It was unreal. It's amazing we were able to rebuild."

Beideman quickly decided she wanted to remain on Main Street and needed a space to reopen before the holidays. She found a new spot on the top of the hill and reopened in 17 weeks.

"I just learned how to be resilient and keep on reimagining what things could be because that was really the only choice I had," she said.

Sweet Elizabeth Jane marked its 15th anniversary. Beideman and her staff have branched out beyond shopping and host monthly events like girls' night out, Bingo, and sip and shop. She wants the store to be a place where customers can gather, connect and build friendships.

"I think that the community is proud of this town and I have to believe it's more than just the buildings," she said. "I think it's that the businesses just continue to show up for the people and the people show up for the businesses, so it's pretty cool."

Creating events and memories is also important to Carney at The Wine Bin. He reopened fairly quickly after the floods, and when it was safe, he restarted his "Movie Night at the Bin".

"The town is rocking now. You're afraid to jinx it, but it is rocking it. The town looks great. It's really coming back strong, so I'm excited."

He's putting that enthusiasm into his latest project, a cocktail bar and restaurant just down the hill. Vesper at Pike and Main opened on July 15. The project has long been a dream of Carney's to open.

"I went to Baltimore and started looking at places in Baltimore and went to Columbia, looked at places in Columbia, and nothing ever felt right. Ellicott City just feels- this feels right. This is home," Carney said.

Not far from Sweet Elizabeth Jane and the Wine Bin on the top of the hill is the Phoenix Emporium, in the former Old Ellicott Mills Brewing Company building. It's now called Phoenix Upper Main and is a much larger space but still has the same charm and hometown feel as it did in its former location.

"This property is a larger restaurant. It gives us a bigger opportunity to host even bigger events," said Mark Hemmis. "We've got birthday parties and reunions and things like that, so it's an excellent opportunity for us, which is great."

His former building is no longer standing. It was torn down in 2024 as part of the flood mitigation plans. Today, it is an open green space known as Tiber Park. Hemmis officiated his son's wedding there in May, 24 years after announcing his son's birth in that very space.

As for the town's future, Hemmis said he sees hope in the changes being made to the historic town to carry on its legacy for generations to come.

"New businesses bring new customers and bring new community and bring a younger generation to Ellicott City, which is what we're all looking for."

A powerful storm dumped more than 6 inches of rain on parts of Ellicott City in less than two hours on July 30, 2016, triggering catastrophic flash flooding that killed two people, devastated the towns historic Main Street and became one of Marylands most destructive weather disasters in recent history. 

The National Weather Service said a nearly stationary band of thunderstorms stalled over central Maryland between 6:45 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., producing intense rainfall that overwhelmed streams and storm drains.

The heaviest rain fell between 7:45 p.m. and 8 p.m., while a flash flood warning had been issued at 7:18 p.m. Reports of flooding began minutes later as water rapidly rushed downhill into Old Ellicott City. 

Built in a narrow valley where several streams converge before reaching the Patapsco River, the historic district funneled runoff into Main Street. Water quickly transformed roadways into fast-moving currents that swept away vehicles, damaged buildings, and left businesses buried in mud and debris. 

Weather officials estimated that localized rainfall exceeded 6 inches, with much of it falling within 90 minutes. According to the National Weather Services rainfall frequency analysis, the event had an annual probability of 0.1% or less for several rainfall durations, making it an exceptionally rare occurrence.

A storm like this has about a one-in-1,000 chance of occurring in any given year. 

The river rose more than 13 feet in less than 2 hours, including a surge of more than 2 feet in just five minutes during the height of the flooding. Emergency officials said the rapid rise coincided with the most severe flooding across downtown. 

A post-flood survey found water marks reaching 6 to 8 feet inside buildings near the lower end of Main Street. Roads, sidewalks and infrastructure sustained extensive damage, while the floodwaters swept away the towns iconic clock and a historic flood marker attached to the railroad bridge. Hundreds of vehicles were damaged or destroyed, and many historic structures required extensive repairs.

The disaster prompted renewed attention to flash flood preparedness, emergency warning systems and stormwater management throughout Howard County.

Meteorologists and emergency managers continue to study the event as an example of how extreme rainfall and steep terrain can combine to produce life-threatening flash flooding in a matter of minutes.