Howard County leaders celebrate progress of key flood mitigation project in Ellicott City

Crews have been working for years on a series of projects to prevent devastating flooding from happening again in Ellicott City.

One of those projects is the North Tunnel, a key part of the Ellicott City Safe and Sound Plan.

To celebrate the tunnel's progress, Howard County Executive Calvin Ball and other county elected leaders gave an update Monday inside the tunnel for the first time.

Some residents, especially those who survived the floods over the years, told CBS News Baltimore it's a big moment to see the North Tunnel's progress come this far.

Marking significant progress

Approximately 150 feet under Ellicott City, a tunnel boring machine, which has been named Rocky, is being assembled.

It's the primary tool needed to create the North Tunnel. To fit it down there, crews have been blasting the ground to make a hole big enough to fit the 460-foot-long machine.

Rocky will start excavating in the summer. It will be able to excavate 65 feet per day, which will clear out enough granite to fill around 90 dump trucks.

Ball said the fact that they are so close to the excavation phase marks significant progress.

"It's about making sure that families can sleep through a storm, it's about making sure business owners can invest in Main Street in confidence, and it's about replacing fear with certainty, anxiety with hope," Ball said.

Plan to mitigate flooding in Ellicott City

Heavy rain made for devastating floods in Old Ellicott City in 2011, 2016, and 2018. Several buildings in the historic district have markings to show just how high the water got.

To prevent this from happening again, Ball in 2018 announced the Safe and Sound Plan, which includes seven flood mitigation projects, as well as other initiatives to ensure a devastating flood doesn't happen again.

Three flood retention ponds have been completed since then, which can hold more than 13 million gallons of water. The other projects are in design or development stages.

Ball said the North Tunnel project is still slated for a fall 2027 completion. When it's done, it'll be able to carry 26,000 gallons of water per second.

More than $350 million in state and federal funding has been secured for Safe and Sound Plan projects. Howard County Delegation members in the General Assembly say it's been their top priority to help in that effort.

"Since I've been in the General Assembly, my mission has been to make sure the state stood with this town," said Del. Courtney Watson. "Yes, with thoughts and prayers, but most importantly with funding."

Surviving the flood

Heather Owens says the 2016 flood in Old Ellicott City is the one that most hurts to remember.

"I made it out, but the person I loved, Joe, did not. There are no words to fully capture what it means to lose someone that way," Owens said. "One moment you're building a life together, then the next everything is gone."

So to be standing inside the actual North Tunnel Monday, it was a big moment for her.

"It represents action, it represents listening, it represents a commitment to protect lives and to make sure what happens to us is never forgotten," she said.

Two people were killed in the 2016 flood, while one person died in 2018.