BALTIMORE | 129 | WEDDINGS
champagne. They popped it open and took
a sip. Five minutes later, a rescue team
arrived. Brittingham still isn’t sure if it
was because of her call or if they were just
next in the evacuation plan. The rescuers
told everyone they had to immediately
vacate to higher ground—that involved
crossing the road and continuing up the
hill. A third of the party was able to get out
before a rescue worker came in screaming,
“Shelter in place.”
Cymbor ran out to check on the family
members who had been evacuated and
found them safe at The Wine Bin across
Main Street. He came back to tell Rigney,
and then the restaurant started taking on
water and plunged into darkness.
Brittingham, the wedding planner, was
with the group initially moved to the wine
store. “We were moved two other times
and kept going higher and higher,” she
says. “We were up high and could see what
was going on. That’s when, right outside,
that stone building went down. We had
felt safe and then to see a whole building
swept away.... Kids were screaming and
crying.” Eight inches of rain in three hours
had turned Main Street into a raging river
sweeping cars down the road, destroying
businesses, and taking a life.
Rigney and Cymbor were still inside
La Palapa. As they saw more cars floating
by, they realized they needed to get out of
there. But fire and rescue had said they’d
be safer staying in place. When they went
back outside they could no longer cross
the road to the wine store. The water was
rising again. “We made the call to get
everyone out of there,” says Cymbor.
They found an opening in the fence
behind Matcha Time Tea and climbed the
grassy hill between houses along Merry-
man and Cliff Streets. Homeowners along
Cliff graciously allowed guests to take
shelter on their porches, and some were
kind enough to let wet guests inside, many
wearing ponchos fashioned out of black
garbage bags that had been passed out at
La Palapa. “I kept making trips back and
forth,” Cymbor says. All in all, their guests
ended up in multiple locations, including
the attic of Su Casa Furniture store.
2 North Charles Street
Baltimore, Md 21201
443-692-6170
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