Cleanup After Flooding To Cost Baltimore $170K
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The historic flash floods that claimed two lives and devastated Ellicott City also left behind a glut of debris in parts of Baltimore.
The flooding swept trash, trees and other objects down some city streets and into the Jones Falls. There's so much of it that it could take several days to clean up.
The July 30 flooding brought carried away vehicles, stacking them on top of one another like building blocks, and swamped businesses in the Woodberry neighborhood.
"Eight to twelve feet of standing water and flooding. That's more than what you may see at some pools or beaches," said Baltimore City Fire Department spokesman Samuel Johnson.
RELATED: Woodberry Businesses Reeling From Flash Floods
Floodwaters burst into local businesses, including Nepenthe Homebrew.
"You can see water came through the wall here, took the shelves down," said owner Brian Arnold.
From shopping carts to dumpsters, the tide washed a whole lot of debris right into the Jones Falls. City officials said a drift-catcher stopped a lot of debris from floating further downstream.
The stream that runs beneath the expressway that shares its name is still littered more than two weeks after the storm. City maintenance crews have been trudging through knee-deep water to clean it all up, using heavy-duty cranes to fish out entire trees.
To help with the cleanup effort, a two-mile stretch on Falls Road is expected to be closed for about a week. That means drivers will have to steer clear of Falls Road between Clipper Mill Road and the 29th Street bridge.
Along with the traffic detour, debris removal will cost the city about $170,000.
Still, those who live and work in the community told WJZ they know the storm's toll could have been much worse.
"We still have a building," said Arnold. "We have a place to put things up and nobody was hurt."
