#Ellicott city flood 2016 install#
#Ellicott city flood 2016 software#

However, Peters said he is in talks with the county to get some kind of reimbursement.Īs recently as four months ago, Peters was installing new cameras in Ellicott City, this time in the West End area of Ellicott City at Wendy Pidel’s house. While emergency services and county officials use Peters’ cameras regularly, he has yet to be financially compensated for the equipment or the time he puts into it. “The camera system he put in place allows our stormwater and public safety teams to work collaboratively to track the level of water in the stream channels, monitor key points that indicate a potential flash flood, and alert businesses and residents of imminent hazards.” “Ron’s support and coordination with our office, the Office of Emergency Management and others has been critical to monitoring and safeguarding Ellicott City during heavy rainfall,” County Executive Calvin Ball said in a statement.

#Ellicott city flood 2016 install#

Currently he said he might install two or three more cameras. He also said he’s spent about 200 hours in installation and upkeep of the equipment so it’s usable at all times. Since he started the project, Peters has spent somewhere between $30,000 and $40,000 out of his own pocket. “The trigger device is very inexpensive because we knew after and during an event it’s going to probably destroy the device,” Greer said. Peters said he offered the county the ability to give all residents access to the text message system, but county officials worried it could cause panic and a mass exodus of the area every time the alert went off.

#Ellicott city flood 2016 software#

The camera software sends the alert to everyone’s cellphones that the specific location is at a flood level and they have 15 minutes to react. Through the camera, the system is notified when water hits a certain level and it sends an alert out to the informal network that exists within Ellicott City business owners and residents. Peters and Greer also set up trigger devices, which measure the water depth in the waterways near Main Street. Some buildings have multiple cameras sprawling across their exteriors to capture both the watershed and the street angles. Most of the cameras have 30 days’ worth of storage on them, and they all are running and recording 24/7 they are set up using the internet of the business or building they are attached to. They wanted to create a reliable network so if one camera went down, there were still other cameras and angles capturing a complete picture of the area. 2017 Originally donated in 2000 by the Ellicott City Kiwanis Club, the restored clock was put back in place in 2017. The flash flood coursed through many historic buildings, washing away the town’s iconic clock, and ultimately killing two. Greer and Peters also engineered the project with a bit of redundancy. 2016 Water again rushed down Main Street on July 30, 2016. “As they are seeing flash flooding watches and warnings going into effect, it gives validation to where the water level is.” “The cameras, to me, act as a validation to all the different sensors and data that the National Weather Service gathers,” Greer said.