RICHMOND, Aug. 31 -- Rain from Tropical Storm Gaston on Monday night sent a 10-foot wall of water rushing through the low-lying neighborhood that had become the center of an urban revival, tossing cars into buildings, trapping residents in their homes and wrecking trendy restaurants and bars.
The storm also inundated the suburbs near the state capital, leaving five people dead in flooding that also closed numerous streets and knocked out power to 87,000 homes and businesses.
Susan Wagner, a longtime Richmond resident, peers into a Cafe Gutenberg in Shockoe. She went to the area to see if she could help shop owners.
(Tracy A. Woodward -- The Washington Post)
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City and state officials who evaluated the damage after the water receded Tuesday said the modern flood wall that protects Shockoe Bottom, the historic home of the tobacco industry, worked flawlessly to keep the James River from overflowing its banks as it had on Oct. 1, 1870, and Aug. 22, 1969.
But this time, the water came not from the river but from the sky. More than a foot of rain fell in six hours, and with no place else to go, it flowed at great speed down 17th Street and onto Main Street, near the city's renovated train station, until it enveloped the farmer's market and the other businesses.
Adam Johnson, 24, who works for a property management firm, was wading along the first-floor hallway of one of his company's apartment buildings when the storm pushed the front door open.
"The water went from waist-high to chin-high in 10 seconds," he said. "It was scary. Like in a movie where the hallway fills up with water. I was screaming at the top of my lungs. I thought, 'This is it. Don't let me die.' "
More than a dozen people were trapped in a city bus for several hours with floodwater blocking their escape.
City officials said rescue crews rappelled from Interstate 95 overpasses, part of an effort that plucked about 40 people from the water.
Joey Williams, 26, said he returned from a trip Monday night to find his first-floor apartment filled with water to the ceiling.
"I had no clue what was going on," he said Tuesday as he tried to get to his apartment. "People were walking around in disbelief. Cars on top of each other. It was horrible."
Floodwater had receded by Tuesday morning when Gov. Mark R. Warner (D) took a walking tour of the 25-square-block area near downtown Richmond. But in the water's wake, cars were stacked on top of each other, streets were coated with thick layers of mud, power lines were on the ground and storefronts were damaged or destroyed.
Warner and local officials said the storm dropped 10 to 14 inches of rain where one to four had been predicted. Richmond Mayor Rudy McCollum called the storm "totally unexpected."
National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Rusnak said forecasters do not yet understand why the remnants of a rapidly weakening tropical depression dropped so much rain on Richmond.
"We're trying to figure that out. I don't know if there's a right answer," he said.
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