This Day In Maryland’s History: The Devastation Of Hurricane Agnes

BALTIMORE — Beginning on June 21, 1972, Hurricane Agnes’ remnants swept across Maryland, causing devastation in its path. The storm took 21 lives and flooded Main Street in Ellicott City, while also causing destruction across the state as a whole. More than $100 million worth of damage was caused in Maryland and Washington, D.C., due to the effects of Agnes, and our state wasn’t the only one affected by the natural disaster.

New York and Pennsylvania were hit the hardest by Hurricane Agnes, while states surrounding Maryland, such as Virginia, also reported millions of dollars in damages and a significant death toll. Across the country, about 120 people lost their lives, and the damages added up to an estimated amount of more than $3 billion in total, according to Agnes50.

In many parts of Maryland, more than 10 inches of rain fell onto the ground and into the local waterways, creating flooding of unseen proportions for our state. Central Maryland received the worst of it, and Westminster recorded more than 14 inches of rain during the tropical storm.

Agnes caused great damage to homes, businesses and even railroad tracks across the East Coast, while the storm significantly lowered the Chesapeake Bay’s salinity and massively disrupted its complex ecosystem.

Ellicott City wasn’t the only community in Maryland to take a hit due to Agnes. Carroll Creek overflowed because of Hurricane Agnes, causing Frederick to flood as well. Dozens of houses were either damaged or destroyed in communities like Elkridge and Ellicott City, creating immediate strife for many Marylanders in the aftermath of this natural disaster.

Flooding of individual cities was only a single problem that Maryland, and the United States at large, had to face. The heavy rainfall in Pennsylvania and New York created significant flooding in the northeast regions of Maryland multiple days after the storm, caused by the Susquehanna River watershed.

During the storm, neighbors and local organizations helped each other stay safe from the flooding, while first responders were deployed to rescue citizens trapped in buildings and homes. Additionally, the Maryland General Assembly created the Comprehensive Flood Management Grant Program in 1976, just a few years after Hurricane Agnes swept through the state.

Hurricane Agnes has maintained its reputation as one of the deadliest named storms in Maryland’s history, so hopefully the Old Line State won’t ever have to endure another storm of the same magnitude.

To learn more about Hurricane Agnes, visit weather.gov.

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