Sprawl has made Baltimore suburb Ellicott City more vulnerable to climate change On an unseasonably warm late-summer day, the narrow, mile-long stretch of Main Street in Ellicott City, Maryland, was jam-packed. It was the weekend of the Main Street Music Fest, a daylong event for local and unsigned bands that?s been a town staple since 2012. Shoppers ducked in and out of the stores on the main drag, which was clogged with traffic, and people with frosty cups of locally brewed beer hung out in parking lots off of Main Street that had been repurposed as stages. The mood was jovial?celebratory, even.
And there was plenty to celebrate: The weekend marked the festival?s return to Main Street for the first time since 2017. Last year, Ellicott City was still reeling from the disastrous downpour of May 27, 2018, when a severe rainstorm walloped the town, leading to flash floods that ravaged roads and buildings and killed one person. It was the second torrential, 1,000-year storm to pummel the town in as many years. On July 30, 2016, heavy rain soaked Ellicott City in a span of just a few hours, causing flash floods that inundated Main Street, wiped out storefronts and vehicles, and killed two people. The three years since that first storm have been tumultuous ones for this 247-year-old Howard County mill town, which is located about 12 miles from downtown Baltimore and has long functioned as a suburb of that metropolis. Plans to safeguard the area from future floods have b...