Flash flooding in historic Maryland town leaves one person missing

One person was missing after flash flooding struck Ellicott City, a historic Maryland community which was devastated by floods only two years ago.

Further south, the center of Subtropical Storm Alberto was forecast to reach the northern US Gulf Coast on Monday afternoon or evening.

Howard County executive Allan Kittleman said a man was reported missing to police in Ellicott City at about 12.30am on Monday. He had not been seen since about 5.20pm on Sunday, when brown water was raging down Main Street.

Kittleman said the missing man was in his 40s and was not a resident of the historic district. He did not identify him further. He said emergency workers were “making every effort to locate that individual”.

Kittleman said the other priority for authorities was to assess the condition of buildings, which contain shops, restaurants and homes. The area remains blocked off, even to residents and business owners.

Officials said they were heartbroken to see the community so severely damaged by flooding again, less than two years after a devastating flood killed two people and caused millions in damages.

Flash floods sent cars floating down Main Street while first responders rescued dozens of people trapped in buildings swamped by water.

As the flood waters receded late on Sunday, officials were just beginning the grim task of assessing the destruction. Rescue crews were still going through the muddied, damaged downtown conducting safety checks.

Kittleman said the damage appeared to him to be worse than the flooding of July 2016.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami said in an advisory issued at 8am ET that the storm’s center was about 100 miles south-east of Destin, Florida, and moving north at 6mph. Maximum sustained winds were clocked at 65mph.

A tropical storm warning remained in effect for an area stretching from Florida’s Suwannee River to the border of Alabama and Mississippi.

A storm surge watch remains in effect for much of northern Florida, from the Suwannee to Navarre in the Panhandle. A storm surge watch means life-threatening inundations are possible from rising water moving inland from the coast. Destin and Panama City beach are within the watch area.

from Environment | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2LBWDME
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