Ellicott City Flood Mitigation Plan Funding At Risk

ELLICOTT CITY, MD — In 2016, Ellicott City found itself deluged with historic floodwaters that killed residents and destroyed properties. Two years later, the downtown area found itself once again battling back against a catastrophic storm that left a widespread swatch of debris and damage.

Officials created a flood mitigation plan to protect the town from future flooding but two important pieces of this plan - the stormwater retention ponds funded by $10 million in low-interest loans - are now on hold. The Trump administration’s Federal Emergency Management Agency has halted such funding and will be assessing the value of disaster prevention projects like the Ellicott City Safe and Sound Plan.

According to documents obtained by The Baltimore Sun, FEMA also is canceling as much as $150 million in additional funding designed to reduce flood potential and damage in some of Maryland’s most at-risk areas, including South Baltimore and the cities of Cambridge and Crisfield on the Eastern Shore.

Below are components of Ellicott City's Safe and Sound Plan.

Stormwater Retention Ponds
A total of five stormwater retention ponds are included in the safe and sound plan. These ponds are designed to gather and control the release of rainwater and runoff during intense storms.

H-7
Completed in 2022, the H-7 pond, located at the interchange of Routes 29 and 40, has the capacity to hold 4.24 million gallons of water in a heavy rain event.

Quaker Mill
Completed in 2023, the Quaker Mill Pond, located at the intersection of Rogers Avenue and Patapsco River Road, has the capacity to hold 3.3 million gallons of stormwater.

H-4
Located along Frederick Road, just west of Route 29, the H-4 pond has the capacity to hold 5.5 million gallons of water. Construction of the H-4 pond should wrap up by fall 2025. The combined stormwater capacity of the H-7, Quaker Mill and H-4 ponds will be more than 13 million gallons – roughly the equivalent of a football field filled 30 feet deep with water.

T-1
Preliminary design of the T-1 pond began in September 2024. Located just west of historic Ellicott City, T-1 will be the first such facility in the Tiber Branch Watershed. The first phase of analysis is expected to be completed in fall 2025. Once complete, the T-1 pond will have the capability to hold 22 million gallons of water, more than doubling the total stormwater retention capacity in the Historic Ellicott City watershed.

NC-3
The NC-3 pond, located southwest of historic downtown, will capture and hold stormwater on the New Cut branch of the watershed. This 20.5-million-gallon capacity facility features a large dam.

Stormwater Conveyance Projects
The Ellicott City Safe and Sound Plan features two key stormwater conveyance projects that reduce flood risks by facilitating the safe flow of stormwater around or through historic Ellicott City.

Maryland Avenue Culverts
The Maryland Avenue Culverts project at Lower Main Street creates a new and expanded outlet for water from the Tiber-Hudson Branch to flow into the Patapsco River. Two parallel pipes from the stream channel beneath the CSX rail line to the river will be installed. This project is in the final design phase.

Extended North Tunnel
The Extended North Tunnel Project is the single largest public works project in Howard County’s history and is the focal point of the Safe and Sound plan. The county broke ground on this project in June 2024. This mile-long, 18-foot diameter structure will stretch from the West End to the Patapsco River, protecting the town by funneling upland water flow away from Main Street directly to the river. The tunnel will have the capacity to channel water at a rate of 26,000 gallons per second.