29-05-2025
Trump is freezing flood prevention funds in Maryland's most at-risk areas, like Ellicott City, documents show
BALTIMORE — Mark Hemmis still can't bear to watch a YouTube compilation of harrowing 911 emergency calls from Ellicott City residents as brown water rushed down Main Street carrying cars and debris during the deadly 2016 flooding.
'I can't get more than 90 seconds into it. It's unbelievably hard to listen to,' said Hemmis, whose restaurant had to relocate up the street to accommodate flood prevention efforts. In 2018, the historic downtown endured another catastrophic storm.
Now, nine years later, two pieces of the city's ambitious flood mitigation plan — stormwater retention ponds funded by $10 million in low-interest loans — are being paused by the Trump administration's Federal Emergency Management Agency as it assesses the value of such disaster prevention projects.
According to documents obtained by The Baltimore Sun, FEMA is also canceling as much as $150 million in additional funding designed to reduce flood potential and damage in some of Maryland's most at-risk areas, including South Baltimore and the cities of Cambridge and Crisfield on the Eastern Shore.
In Crisfield, a flood-prone, Chesapeake Bay community in which most residents are supporters of President Donald Trump, the loss of multi-year grants totaling as much as $72 million 'is really disheartening. It means everything,' said Mayor Darlene Taylor. 'We've had businesses ruined. Some of the homes don't have insurance.'
In picturesque Ellicott City, the pausing of low-interest loans for the large retention ponds is seen by residents as another barrier to overcome in a resilient town that experienced two devastating floods within 22 months.
'I don't know enough about national politics to know what DOGE's plans are,' said Hemmis, referring to the Department of Government Efficiency, a cost-cutting organization headed by billionaire Elon Musk.
Hemmis purchased an old brick property in 2020 and moved his restaurant there, now called Phoenix Upper Main. The site of his former restaurant is now a park.
Hemmis remains committed to Ellicott City. 'The (Howard County) Safe and Sound program will move forward. The tunnel is underway,' he said.
A mile-long tunnel, targeted for completion in 2027, is designed to move 26,000 gallons of water per second from the city's West End to the Patapsco River, diverting it away from Main Street. The tunnel is funded in part by a $75 million low-interest loan that was secured through a federal program in 2022, before Trump began his second term.
Trump 'seems to have a weird fascination with anything that has the words 'climate' or 'environmental justice' attached,' said U.S. Rep. Sarah Elfreth, a Democrat whose district includes Ellicott City. 'We're seeing increased flooding again across this country. Rising tides don't recognize who is president. They don't care which is a red district or a blue district.'
Many of the now-scrapped projects were either funded or in the application or review phase of the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program administered by FEMA.
FEMA, headed by Trump appointee Kristi Noem, canceled the program last month, calling it 'yet another example of a wasteful and ineffective FEMA program. It was more concerned with political agendas than helping Americans affected by natural disasters.'
Any program grant money not already distributed — amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars — 'will be immediately returned either to the Disaster Relief Fund or the U.S. Treasury,' FEMA's announcement said.
The BRIC program was created by FEMA during the Republican Trump's first term. It became vulnerable because it was associated with climate change mitigation —a politically volatile issue within Trump's administration —while Democrat Joe Biden was in office.
Affected projects include the Middle Branch Resiliency Initiative, designed to reduce flooding in the area around MedStar Harbor Hospital in South Baltimore.
About $5.2 million was previously awarded as Phase 1, 'but the remaining $26 million for Phase 2 had not yet been awarded' under the now-canceled program, said an April memorandum of the Maryland Department of Emergency Management that was obtained by The Sun.
Other affected areas include Crisfield, which for years called itself 'the Seafood Capital of the World.' Its downtown is regularly inundated by water. Main Street businesses must close during heavy floods.
Crisfield was seeking two flood mitigation grants from FEMA of about $36 million apiece. One was applied for by the state Department of Emergency Management but was not awarded.
The other is listed in the agency's memorandum among those that can't be applied for 'due to the cancellation of the BRIC program.'
A $16 million project to protect against major storms in Cambridge, a Dorchester County waterfront community, was also derailed for the same reason, the agency said.
Crisfield's plan is 'basically to build a sea wall around our community,' Taylor said. For two years, she said, the city held biweekly meetings with FEMA contractors and others to work out technical details of the plan.
'It was really key to our survivability,' she said. 'Businesses are reluctant to come here because the flooding is so frequent and so severe.'
U.S. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, a Maryland Democrat, raised the Crisfield examples during a May 1 committee hearing, calling them 'very, very heartbreaking.'
Communities 'spend years planning, and these not only make them safer through flood mitigation but it also contributes significantly to their economies,' the senator said.
Asked for comment about the Maryland projects, FEMA sent The Sun a general statement similar to the one released by the agency when it cancelled the BRIC program. 'Under Secretary Noem's leadership, we are committed to ensuring that Americans in crisis can get the help and resources they need,' it said.
Flood-prone Ellicott City is in a valley near the Patapsco River. Heavy rains in 2011, 2016 and 2018 caused major flooding in the historic district, killing three people and leaving behind massive destruction.
The two retention ponds are part of a multi-year flood prevention effort costing well over $100 million. The plan includes five total ponds, a culvert project, and the tunnel.
Howard County officials received approval in December for two $5 million, low-interest loans secured through the state before Trump took office in January. But closing on the loans — which are separate from the BRIC program — is on hold pending FEMA review and approval, according to Safa Hira, director of communications for Howard County Government.
'We are disappointed that the $10 million to support the NC-3 and T-1 Pond projects is currently being held and reviewed by FEMA, said Felix Facchine, deputy chief of staff to Howard County Executive Calvin Ball, a Democrat. 'While this funding is under review, we remain committed to advancing all components of the Safe and Sound Plan to safeguard Ellicott City from future flash floods.'
Neither Hemmis nor Carrie Foley, the restaurant's general manager, blamed Trump or anybody else for the funding delay.
'I hope that resolves itself, but honestly, I know there are so many other things that are going on,' Foley said. 'I have faith that things will work out. This town has been here long before us, it'll be here long after. I think that's important.'
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