Roads, Rails, Federal Offices Deluged

A mudslide late Sunday gave new meaning to the phrase "stuck on the Beltway" as several drivers were trapped near the Telegraph Road interchange.

The mudslide forced the closing of the Beltway and the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, causing stifling backups on both shores.

Parts of other major commuter routes, including Rock Creek Parkway in the District, Route 29 in Silver Spring and Interstate 395 and the George Washington Parkway in Northern Virginia, as well as dozens of secondary roads, were impassable because of water. U.S. Park Police said Rock Creek Parkway and Beach Drive would remain closed today.

Joe Nogueira knew things were going to be bad for him when he got to his exit for I-95 in Prince William. Or, rather, when he got semi-near his exit. "It was a half-hour before I even merged" onto the highway, said the civilian analyst for the Defense Department.

It didn't get much better from there. "It was bumper-to-bumper the whole way," he said, after enduring a three-hour commute to the Pentagon, his longest ever. "It was unbelievably bad," said Nogueira, who planned to go in late today to avoid a repeat. "[Interstate] 95 has just gotten to the point where any little thing and that's it -- and this was a big thing."

Many drivers were stuck before they ever left their driveways as heavy rains caused their batteries and other equipment to shut down, AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesman John Townsend said. He said the car service had received more than 5,000 calls since Sunday and that 40 to 60 were still unanswered yesterday because of the extreme volume.

Commuters found no relief on the rails, either. Three Metro stations -- Archives-Navy Memorial, Federal Triangle and Braddock Road -- were flooded and unable to operate through the morning rush. Metro provided bus service between stations, but many riders complained about disorganized or nonexistent rides. Metro officials said delays lasted as long as an hour as buses were hamstrung by the same traffic problems facing all drivers.

Virginia Railway Express service was canceled yesterday and could be out again today because many parts of the line remain underwater and managers were having trouble getting repair equipment to the trouble spots, a spokesman said. MARC service was canceled on the Brunswick and Camden lines, and service was reduced on the Penn Line. MARC said it expected to resume normal service today, weather permitting.

In the District, the headquarters of the Internal Revenue Service, the Commerce Department, the Justice Department, parts of the Environmental Protection Agency at the Rios federal building and the National Archives were closed yesterday because of flooding and electrical problems. The National Museum of Natural History, the National Museum of American History and the National Gallery of Art also closed. The National Zoo closed early.

About 10 p.m., flights headed to New York's LaGuardia Airport from Reagan National were delayed more than two hours, and flights to other destinations as much as an hour or more, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

As her yard in the 5700 block of Fenwick Drive in Fairfax County became submerged Monday night, and the water quickly spilled into her basement and onto her front porch, Brittany Duke, 21, said she momentarily pondered whether she and her roommate would be forced to climb onto the roof for safety.

"We were getting pretty nervous," she said, at the house that they had rented recently. Yesterday, they went to stay with friends.

Rodney Grimes, 46, a photographer who lives on Fenwick Drive, described last night how his back wall had caved in. "At this point, I'm in a panic," Grimes said. "I lost everything, almost my life."

A few miles away, a shelter was set up at Thomas Edison High School for those displaced by the flooding. Yesterday, about 25 people lingered in the school's cafeteria, where snacks and sandwiches were available.

Harry Colman, 59, said he and his wife were on their way home to their Huntington Avenue condominium late Sunday, after a weekend away and were diverted to the shelter. "The water was too high, we were told," he said, standing outside the cafeteria.

At a meeting last night, Fairfax government officials asked hundreds of residents of the Arlington Terrace area not to return to their homes. Several people did go home to collect household items and pets. Most of the 68 homes in the neighborhood were damaged, officials said, and two were uninhabitable.

Some of the displaced residents the meeting showed frustration over what they called officials' inability to identify the source of the floodwaters, or to remedy the problem.

"The most upsetting thing is, they keep saying: 'We don't know what caused it, and nobody's going to help you,' " said Nataliya Schetchikova, 33. "They will end up pointing fingers toward Mother Nature, and there's nothing we can do about it."