An early step in development of an Ellicott City Watershed Master Plan took place this week at a meeting with Howard County officials and about 200 business owners and residents.

Gathering at the George Howard building, officials and consultants discussed findings of a hydrology and hydraulic study aimed at creating a strategy to combat flooding in the Tiber-Hudson Watershed, considered a critical source in last July’s Ellicott City flash flood that killed two people and gutted dozens of businesses and residences in the historic district.

The county began the study last August to review the 3.7-square-mile watershed, including flow of water in stream channels and underground culverts.

Mark DeLuca, deputy director for the county’s Department of Public Works, said the study is a key resource in analyzing storm conditions to learn how to possibly reduce flooding on Main Street.

“If we could model the July 30 storm and plug other storms into that model, we could see how the whole watershed would respond to a storm” and make improvements, DeLuca said.

“Our main focus is to maintain that stream, so that we wouldn’t get all the debris piling up in it and causing a lot of additional flooding,” he said.

Chris Brooks, an associate with consultant group McCormick Taylor, said the hydrology and hydraulic study incorporated the amount, depth and velocity of water and where flooding commonly occurs on Main Street and Frederick Road from Route 29 to the Patapsco River. Multiple storm scenarios were used in the model, including the amount of rainfall during the July 30 flood.

The model revealed that water moved 12 feet per second that night.

The study suggests possible ways to ease flooding — including additional stormwater retention ponds to help catch overflow and creation of underground “pipe farms” that could hold the