Flooding

By Monday evening, Hurricane Sandy's remains surrounded Ocean City . From the east, the evening high tide, a full moon and a 7-foot storm surge sent waves crashing over dunes in some spots. To the west, a white-capped Assawoman Bay overflowed onto the narrow barrier island. Gusts whipping to near-hurricane force turned gaps between high rises into wind tunnels. A decision by town officials to close the Route 90 bridge to nonemergency traffic at 5 p.m. meant there was nothing for those who stayed behind to do but wait, or call for help.

Hurricane Sandy churned about 290 miles off the Mid-Atlantic coast Sunday night, with the National Hurricane Center reporting that the monster storm was expected to come ashore with near-hurricane-force winds and potentially "life-threatening" storm surge flooding. The storm was curling north on Sunday night, churning toward land on Monday with the eye of the storm approaching the coast Monday night, the weather service said in its latest update. The storm remains deadly powerful, with sustained winds near 75 miles per hour and even stronger gusts.

The National Weather Service's 2 p.m. update shows Hurricane Sandy producing tropical storm-force winds in the Atlantic as it nears Carolinas. The storm is still about 300 miles off the coast of Charleston, S.C., with tropical storm conditions expected to reach the Carolinas this afternoon. The system is forecasted to move parallel with the U.S. coast through the weekend. A storm surge between four and eight feet is possible from Ocean City to the Connecticut border with Rhode Island.

In a city struggling to rebuild its population, construction cranes would seem to be a welcome sign. But office, shopping and housing projects in the works in Northwest Baltimore have some residents worried about the impact of development on a degraded stream that flows through their neighborhoods on its way to the harbor. Cranes tower over an 11-acre tract on Wabash Avenue, where the Social Security Administration plans to move 1,600 workers from the federal agency's aging downtown headquarters.

A string of severe storms brought heavy rain and high winds through the Baltimore region and the East Coast on Tuesday, flooding homes and streets, knocking out power to thousands and forcing local school officials to cancel afternoon activities. Flash flooding was reported in Columbia and a foot of water covered National Pike in Woodlawn. Waterfront homeowners on Millers Island in Baltimore County saw their streets flooded as water poured over concrete bulkheads along the Chesapeake Bay, through their yards and into their basements.

The Bel Air Board of Town Commissioners approved a new Flood Mitigation Plan Tuesday that town officials say should save some property owners money on their insurance in the future. At their 40-minute town meeting, the commissioners also approved a paving contract for Winding Alley in Howard Park and set some new parking limits in the downtown area. Also approved were two changes involving stop signs, including the removal of the stop at Kenmore Avenue and Heighe Street, which was rendered unnecessary by new traffic patterns associated with the new Bel Air High School building.

Heavy rains that lashed central Maryland on Sunday forced a portion of East Monument Street to be evacuated after a large sinkhole in the road reopened and expanded, according to a city public works spokesman. Tons of gravel and recycled concrete that city crews had used to backfill the hole began washing away as an estimated 1 to 3 inches of rain fell, forcing emergency crews to once again evacuate the north side of the 2300 block of East Monument Street, said Kurt Kocher, the spokesman.

It seems like Ellicott City has come in for an inordinate amount of disasters from floods, fires and railroad wrecks since its founding in 1772. The latest incident occurred this week when a CSX train bound for Baltimore derailed, spilling coal from 21 hopper cars and taking the lives of two Howard County college students, Elizabeth Nass and Rose Mayr, both 19, who were sitting on a bridge at the time of the accident. The town owes its origins to the Ellicott brothers — Joseph, Andrew and John — from Pennsylvania who purchased 20 acres and established a mill on the banks of the Patapsco River in 1722.

Enalee E. Bounds has been running Ellicott's Country Store on Main Street in historic Ellicott City for 50 years, telling customer after customer that they have stepped into a house that could be the oldest "duplex" in the country - built in the late 18th or early 19th century - and how Mr. Walker lived on one side, Mr. Chandler on the other. In her view, Main Street hasn't changed so much since her family bought the store in 1962, and she doesn't see why it should. "It could always be spiffed up," said Bounds, whose store boasts four floors of antiques and home furnishings and an interior design service.

National Weather Service officials have not confirmed any tornado touchdowns in the Baltimore area from Tuesday night, but reports of gumball-sized hail and torrential rains and flooding are piling up. The weather service's Sterling, Va., office is in the process of exploring areas of two tornado warnings, meteorologist Heather Sheffield said. The first was issued about 8:50 p.m. in an area that included Owings Mills, Pikesville, Roland Park and Towson; it expired 25 minutes later.