Heavy Rain Wallops Area, Prompting Evacuations in Northern Maryland

In Maryland's Harford County, about 30 people were evacuated from their homes and others were rescued from cars stalled out on roads with as much as 6 feet of water, Jim Terrell, the fire chief of Darlington, told the Associated Press.

In the Washington area, authorities reported flooded roads, plenty of minor accidents, scattered power outages and many cancellations of weekend events.

The Maryland Million, the second-biggest day of horse racing in the state after the Preakness Stakes, was postponed early in the morning because of the rain. The event, a celebration of thoroughbred racing and breeding in the state, routinely draws crowds of around 20,000 to Laurel Park. It was rescheduled for next Saturday.

The triumphant finale of the Tour of Hope cross-country bicycle ride, lead by seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, was also washed out after rain flooded some of the roads on which the cyclists -- including 1,500 local riders -- were supposed to travel.

The event had been scheduled to culminate in a festival on the Ellipse, which was canceled. But at the last minute, when the rain faded briefly to a drizzle at around 1 p.m. Armstrong thrilled fans by riding down Constitution Avenue with his 25 Tour of Hope teammates to celebrate the end of the nine-day, cross country bike relay that raised more than $1.5 million for cancer research.

But the deluge will save at least some dehydrated landscaping, said Stephen Cockerham, owner of Betty's Azalea Ranch in Fairfax.

And it came in time to save autumn leaf colors, he said. "We were headed in a direction where they were just going to turn brown and die," said Cockerham. Now, he said, "we're going to have some pretty spectacular colors."

Washington Post staff writers John Scheinman and Hamil Harris contributed to this report .