Aftermath of a Deluge
A Year After Fairfax Flooding, Neighbors Celebrate Yet Still Fear Storms

By Timothy Dwyer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 25, 2007

The most terrifying sound in the world to Henny Toet is the pitter-patter of raindrops.

"I am still scared to death every time it starts raining," said Toet, 73, who lives in the Huntington section of Fairfax County.

Toet is not alone. Up and down Fenwick Drive, neighbors pour out of their houses whenever a heavy rain falls. Some move their cars to higher ground at a nearby Metro station. Others walk to the end of the street to monitor the water level at Cameron Run, fearing a repeat of the flooding that drove them out of their homes a year ago today.

"Every time it rains real hard, people get all concerned," resident Christine Tooley said. "The first thing you do is move your car. Some people might see that as trivial, but once you have already lost it once, you don't want to do it again, and it is about the only thing you can control if it floods again."

The floods, caused by a rare tropical deluge that swamped houses, highways and federal buildings throughout the Washington area, came suddenly in the dark of night, rushing through the neighborhood like a tidal surge. In what seemed like minutes, cars were submerged and people were hurrying to get out of their homes alive as the water continued to rise.

More than half of the neighborhood's 311 houses were damaged, causing an estimated $10 million in losses. Residents were forced to find temporary shelter for about a week until Fairfax officials said it was safe to return.

Yesterday, the people of Huntington threw a party to celebrate their comeback. They have rebuilt their houses and dealt with their anger, frustration and, in many cases, economic hardship. The neighbors have grown closer and stronger. After the flood, Tooley had promised a couple of her neighbors that they would have a party in a year to mark the date.

"I would describe it as a celebration of our recovery," said Harry Shepler, 47, who organized the party. "This is our new neighborhood, and we want to celebrate with those who are still here."

Toet moved into the neighborhood in 1989. On the night of the flood, her experience was typical of those of many of her neighbors. Her husband, Nicholas Martinez, warned her that the water was rising on the street.

" 'Hey, we have a flood,' " Toet remembered him saying.

" 'Relax,' " she said she told him. " 'Sometimes the street fills up with a little water.' "

Then she looked out the window and saw that this wasn't any ordinary street flooding.

" 'Your Suzuki car is underwater,' " she told Martinez.

Toet and her husband did not have flood insurance. They used money they received from a car insurance claim to repair their home. Now they have a $2,000-a-year bill for flood insurance. She has no idea how they'll pay it, even with her 81-year-old husband returning to work keeping bars supplied.

Fairfax has provided money to help residents buy flood insurance as an interim measure.

In the days that followed the flood, as residents cleaned the mud out of their homes, contractors came calling, promising quality work and reasonable prices. But many residents worried they would be scammed. At least 12 Fenwick Drive residents got lucky. Someone on the street worked with someone who recommended Oscar Villatoro, who operates Oscar's Construction in Manassas.

Villatoro, 30, came to Fenwick Drive soon after the floods and renovated one home. He never left. As of last week, he had finished nine houses and has three to go. Once he finished the first job, the people in the neighborhood lined up to hire him, even if it has meant waiting, well, a year.

"We joke that he should set up an office in the neighborhood or just move here," Shepler said.

As Villatoro began rebuilding the neighborhood, residents pressed county, state and federal agencies for an answer to what had caused Cameron Run, after years of handling most storms, to overflow its banks.

In January, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers determined that decades of storm runoff from Fairfax construction sites, which produced sediment that narrowed Cameron Run, was the primary cause. A permanent solution would be expensive and time-consuming, according to the Corps. A flood wall could cost $35 million and take five to seven years to build. Dredging would initially cost $17 million to $18 million and have to be repeated periodically.

"We can build a flood wall, but that may have unintended consequences for people who live either upstream or downstream from the flood wall, and it is also very expensive," said Gerald E. Connolly (D), chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. "We can dredge, but how far up or down do we dredge? Some people say we would have to go all the way to the Potomac and that it would have to be periodically. It's expensive, and whose responsibility is it? The state had a lot do with the silt being there because of construction projects on the Beltway and the Woodrow Wilson Bridge."

Connolly said county officials continue to work "overtime to find a happy solution to bring this community peace of mind. They deserve it."

So for now, when it rains, the people of Fenwick Drive move their cars and head toward the end of the street to keep an eye on Cameron Run. Yesterday, that observation point was where they set up some grills and had their party.