ELLICOTT CITY, Md. — From the small changes you can see or hear, to the efforts happening 150 feet below the surface.
Howard County’s “Ellicott City Safe and Sound” plan is well underway.
Earlier this year, boring began on a mile long underground tunnel to redirect rushing water away from Main Street and directly into the Patapsco River, the county’s largest public works project, ever.
But it’s one many doubted would see the light of day, now becoming reality.
When complete, it will divert 26,000 gallons of water per second. It’s expected to be done by Fall 2027.
Launched in late 2019, following Calvin Ball’s appointment to county executive and the second flood, it’s a series of projects aimed to reduce the impact of future flooding. Based on May 2025 estimates, its entirety is anticipated to cost $414 million, funding sourced from both the county and the state of Maryland.
“We were constantly under the gun,” former deputy director of public works Mark DeLuca said, recalling the countless community meetings, questions, funding concerns, designs and approvals, construction and the doubts.
But now that progress is even more visible, he says, the tides are turning.
“They believe that we are making good on it. We are moving forward,” he said.
DeLuca brought WMAR-2 News along on a tour of the completed stormwater pond projects, three out of five complete.
The most recently completed one, H4 along Frederick Road, was planned to be a townhouse community.
Each can hold the equivalent of about five Olympic-sized swimming pools. Then the county can meter how the water flows out of it. Think of them like a bathtub, and the county controlling the drain.
“They retain the water a little bit longer. They release it at a slower rate, a more manageable rate,” he explained.
Though they’ve yet to be truly tested.
“We haven't had anything similar to either of those two storms and we're happy about that,” DeLuca said.
He describes engineering around the three tributaries that flow down the hill of Ellicott City to meet at the Patapsco, used to power the Mill, as “a nightmare.”
Ongoing S&S projects include constant monitoring of the water levels in the ponds, grant programs to help property owners improve resiliency and debris removal from streams to further mitigate flooding.
So far, more than 110 pounds worth and counting.
Forging new ground
But despite all the time, energy and money being spent to protect Ellicott City, it's not enough to convince everyone to come back.
“Sometimes you just gotta forge new ground,” owner of All Time Toys Jason Barnes said.
He stayed to rebuild after the first flood. That time period, he says, he looks back on fondly.
“One of the few times I can actually say I felt the truest sense of the word community. just everyone was there to help everyone,” he said.
But then came the second in May 2018.
“From my perspective, it killed a lot of that happy feelings that everyone kind of hit survival mode. Do you rebuild? Do you leave?” Barnes said.
He chose to do the latter, setting up shop elsewhere in Eldersberg.
A new home in Carroll County.
“It's definitely greener grass for the model,” he said. “There's still parts I miss about Ellicott City, but found a lot of things up here I really like too.”
He says, nothing can convince him to return.
“I never go back,” he said. “It's just a time bomb with a bad clock.”