Some Areas Report 6 Inches of Rain in 24 Hours as Fast-Rising Waters Close Roads and Strand Motorists
By Martin Weil and Allan Lengel
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, June 26, 2006
As lightning flashed and thunder pealed, torrents of rain deluged much of the Washington area last night, turning roads into rapids, stranding motorists in perilous currents and plunging more than 30,000 homes into darkness.
As the electrical storms of a long and rain-soaked weekend reached a crescendo last night, at least one house fire was touched off by lightning, other lightning strikes were reported and the number of customers who lost power at some point in the past three days rose to about 100,000.
As midnight approached, water shut down much of Metro's rail system, traffic trying to reach the Woodrow Wilson Bridge was at a standstill and Reagan National Airport staff members handed out blankets to the stranded.
With rain falling on waterlogged ground at a rate of two inches an hour in some spots -- matching totals for a month or more -- rescuers pulled shaken motorists from rising water on numerous roadways from Maryland to Virginia.
Moreover, forecasters said they expected the area to remain in the grip of the same atmospheric conditions, making more rain and thunder possible through midweek.
No serious injuries were reported yesterday, but one driver said that aid had arrived just as water reached the window of her stalled car on a bridge over Great Seneca Creek in upper Montgomery County.
Patti Damiano told WTTG-TV (Channel 5) a powerful current thrust her car against a guardrail.
"Thank God they got me out," she said.
A witness described knee-deep water in the Chevy Chase Village area off Wisconsin Avenue in Montgomery County. In the District, parts of Constitution and Independence avenues were closed near the Mall.
In Vienna, a drainage ditch overflowed, sending water swirling up to nearby houses, resident Marjorie Knowles said. Fast-rising waters overwhelmed drainage systems elsewhere in Fairfax County, leading police to close streets in the Reston, McLean, Chantilly and Centreville areas. In Prince William County, authorities closed 11 roads, most of them in the west.
By 10 p.m., Wheaton, in Montgomery County, had received six inches of rain in the previous 24 hours. In Reston, the National Weather Service received a report of 6.29 inches falling between 10:05 p.m. Saturday and 10:05 p.m. last night.
Much of the rain came in a few explosive minutes toward the end of those 24-hour periods. At National Airport, three inches of rain fell between 8 and 11 p.m. That is .8 inches more than fell in the month of May.
In the District, fire Capt. John Sollers reported flooding in some buildings in the 12th Street NW corridor between Pennsylvania and Constitution avenues. He said the basement of the Internal Revenue Service Building was inundated with about five feet of water.
Rescuers sent a boat into the 12th Street tunnel after receiving reports of two cars stranded there about 11 p.m., Sollers said. But the motorists had gotten out of the vehicles and reached safety by the time rescuers arrived, leaving their cars in the middle of the tunnel amid several feet of water.
Water stalled cars in Ellicott City in Howard County and on the access roads and in parking lots at Dulles International Airport, according to reports to the National Weather Service.
As many as five rescues of trapped motorists were taking place at the same time last night in central Montgomery County, the Weather Service said it was told.
In Fairfax County, high water closed Hunter Mill Road at Cedar Pond Drive, as well as Stewart Mill Road at Birdfoot Lane and Old Courthouse Road at Besley Road.
Early this morning, an Arlington County spokeswoman reported that Route 110 was closed at the Pentagon and that Washington Boulevard was closed between Columbia Pike and Route 50. In addition, Kenmore Street was closed at 24th Road because of a street cave-in. Parts of the George Washington Memorial Parkway were closed near National Airport and near Belle Haven.
Weather forecasters tied last night's downpours to a system that arrived in the Washington area late Thursday night, with wind, rain, thunder and lightning. Last night, the weather pattern persisted.
The impact on the area's electrical supply was apparently at its peak Friday, when, according to a spokeswoman for Dominion Virginia Power, more than 70,000 homes lost electricity for some part of the day. It rained again Saturday.
Electrical service fluctuated throughout the day yesterday, as rain and wind bursts rose and abated until reaching an apparent climax last night.
At one point, about 10 p.m. yesterday, about 30,000 homes were without electricity: 22,000 in Northern Virginia and a total of 8,000 in the District and Montgomery and Prince George's counties.
Earlier in the day, electricity had been cut off to an additional 4,000 Maryland homes, but it was restored in the period between storms.
Also yesterday, heavy rains from the same storm system, which ranged for hundreds of miles north and south along the East Coast, caused severe flooding in northern Dorchester and southern Caroline counties on Maryland's Eastern Shore, washing out roads and forcing some residents to be evacuated from their homes.
About 8:15 a.m. yesterday, Federalsburg Mayor Betty J. Ballas declared an emergency for the southern Caroline town of about 2,600 people.
In the Washington area, a Metro spokeswoman cited "a significant amount of water intrusion into the system" for delays and interruptions that began about 11 p.m.
She said service was halted between Metro Center and Dupont Circle, between L'Enfant Plaza and Metro Center, and between National Airport and Braddock Road. Trains were single-tracked between White Flint and Twinbrook, she said.
Spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said Metro would make every effort to ready the system for full service this morning.
Staff writers Petula Dvorak and Bill Turque and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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