In flood-ravaged Ellicott City, volunteers pitch in to help clear debris

As Elizabeth Loebl cleared piles of dirt from a small stone building in Ellicott City, a historic district hit hard by a deadly flood on July 30, the 36-year-old volunteer gawked at the enormity of the task ahead.&quot;This is just one building. Imagine what's down there,&quot; said Loebl, who lives in Ellicott City, minutes away from the area slammed by the flood. &quot;We're going to be here for a long time. The cameras will be gone by then. But we will still be here,&quot; Loebl said.On Friday, a handful of volunteers including Loebl began cleaning up damage left by the flood, which claimed two lives, displaced dozens of residents and swept many small businesses into ruin.More than 30 vehicles are submerged in the Patapsco River and two buildings remain under the threat of collapse, said Ryan Miller, the county's director of the Office of Emergency Management.Volunteers gathered at the edge of Main Street to start chipping away at what they conceded would be a long recovery.More than 2,500 people had contacted Howard County's call center to offer help. Others showed up throughout the week at the site, shovels in hand but were turned away by police from the restricted area.On Thursday, the county's #ECStrong campaign announced that volunteers would be allowed to assist with cleanup efforts.The county has set up a volunteer center at the Walmart at 3200 North Ridge Road in Ellicott City to ferry volunteers to a parking lot on Ellicott Mills Drive and the west end of Main Street to begin clean up in areas deemed safe by the county. Staff pre-registered volunteers at the center - open from 8 a.m.to 4 p.m. Most of the west end has been cleared, Miller said.The day of the flood, Eric Jayne, a teacher at Pointers Run Elementary, planned to celebrate his 41st birthday at Bean Hollow, a quaint coffee shop on Main Street destroyed by Saturday's flood.In a sudden turn of events, Jayne stood on Friday just feet from Main Street, blocked off by police, shoveling mud from one of the old town's historic buildings.&quot;We're waiting. As soon as that police tape comes down, there is a community here ready to put this town back together,&quot; Jayne said. &quot;This is going to take a true community effort.&quot;The county plans to rebuild the area so that it is &quot;stronger than ever,&quot; said Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman. But Kittleman and other officials did not estimate how long the restoration would take.On Friday morning, the Howard County Council extended a state of emergency in Ellicott City until Sept. 7, allowing the county to limit public access to old Ellicott City.&quot;We have seen an overwhelming response from the community,&quot; Kittleman said. &quot;People are coming together in ways we haven't seen before. It's remarkable.&quot;Ellicott City Partnership, the nonprofit organization that manages the old town, has collected more than $100,000 in donations.On the corner of Main Street and Ellicott Mills Drive, volunteers shoveled piles of dirt from the inside of a small stone building that once was the town's first courthouse. Ironically, the building was turned into a center in 1998 to house information about fires and floods in the old town.The volunteer effort drew Joyce Tami from her home in Alexandria, Virginia. Putting her hands in the dirt transcended simply writing a check, she said.&quot;We're lucky to be able to do this,&quot; Tami said. &quot;All I can hope is I never need people to help me. We're so lucky to be helping.&quot;Ron Vogelsang, a 47-year-old park specialist with the county's Department of Recreation and Parks, said the county needs the extra hands to clear the area. Loaders designed to move dirt are too large to steer dirt in the narrow areas of the historic building.In his 21 years with the department, Vogelsang said &quot;the damage is far worse than I could have ever imagined.&quot;For volunteers like Jason Dowling, 36, of Ellicott City, the clean-up effort hit close to home. Dowling spent much of his childhood on Main Street and used to work at Johnny's Bistro on Main, a restaurant on the street.Dowling often took popular &quot;ghost tours,&quot; which walked tourists through the haunted history of the old town.Now, Dowling said the town will be haunted by the history of this year's flood.&quot;The tours won't have the same effect. It won't be an old historic town anymore. When they rebuild it, people are going to think about that flood. They're going to think, 'When is this going to happen again?' It's scary.&quot;

In flood-ravaged Ellicott City, volunteers pitch in to help clear debris

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