A National Guardsman was swept away while attempting to help residents of Ellicott City, Maryland, during the town’s second freak flash flood in three years.
The city was pounded with eight inches of rain on Sunday - an inch and a half more than the rainfall that triggered a similar disaster in 2016, when two people were killed.
The 2016 deluge was dubbed a “once in 1,000 years” weather event, but this weekend’s torrential flood is believed to have been even more powerful.
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“The best estimates that we have in real time are saying that this is a worse flood,” National Weather Service meteorologist Kyle Pallozzi told the Baltimore Sun.
At least two separate flash floods struck the town on Sunday, NPR reports, “shoving cars down the street and bursting through storefronts” in the town’s colonial-era historic centre. State governor Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency, urging locals to seek higher ground.
Video footage taken by witnesses shows fast-moving torrents of water several feet high sweeping down Main Street:
National Guardsman Eddison Hermond, a 39-year-old air force veteran, was eating in a restaurant when the floods hit and “went out to help a woman find her cat”, according to County Police Chief Gary Gardner. Witnesses said he was carried awaty by the raging waters.
Despite extensive searches by emergency services, Hermond remains missing.
Main Street was cordoned off today as authorities assessed the damage to homes and businesses and began to clear the debris.
Allan Kittleman, executive of Howard County, told USA Today: “There are no words to describe the devastation.”
He added that business owners who painstakingly rebuilt after the 2016 flash floods now faced a “tough decision” as to whether to go through the process again.
“My heart breaks for them,” he said, adding: “When you have eight inches coming down, terrible things can happen.”
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