911 Calls from Ellicott City Flood: 'The Floor's Buckling'

ELLICOTT CITY, MD — The Howard County Police Department released calls that its 911 center received Saturday night, when downtown Ellicott City was swept up in a deadly flash flood.

"Flooding is an understatement," said one of the callers in the 10-plus minutes of conversations released Wednesday. She was inside Ellicott Mills Brewing Company.

The recordings came from Main Street residents and businesses, including Bean Hollow, Portalli's, The Phoenix Emporium and Ellicott Mills Brewing Company. Police said the recordings were designed to show a random sample of the kinds of calls received during the flood, when the Howard County 911 center received four times its normal call volume.

"The floor's buckling...[and] we can feel the ceiling crumbling," said the caller from Bean Hollow, who was heard screaming as the floor broke underfoot. There was no place for the eight people inside the coffee shop to go, she said, but after nearly four minutes on the line with the dispatcher, they found an escape.

"We are currently underwater," said the caller at The Phoenix, the pub where county officials later said more than 40 people had to be rescued.

In Portalli's, at least 100 people had moved to the restaurant's second floor after water flooded into the first level, the caller said.

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Even in distress, one woman considered the needs of strangers. She asked first responders to help others first because she said she and others at Ellicott Mills Brewing Company were OK.

Although the power had gone out and 50 people were trapped, "We're trapped but we're safe here," she told the dispatcher. "Go help other people first."

Regardless, the fire department would respond because there were people trapped in the building, the dispatcher said.

Altogether, county officials said that 150 people were rescued downtown. Two people swept up in vehicles died in the flood, and authorities have closed Main Street indefinitely as surveyors assess the damage.

Pictured are Portalli's, Bean Hollow and The Phoenix on Wednesday. Photo Credit: Elizabeth Janney.