Sunday, May 11, 2008

Heavy rains doused Southern Maryland on Thursday night, leaving fields, yards and roads underwater in western Charles County and two cars submerged near the Prince George's County line.

At about 4:30 a.m. Friday, Prince George's County firefighters were dispatched to the Berry Road ramp leading to northbound Indian Head Highway, where they found two cars in water up to their windows. The drivers apparently tried to get through a large pool of water and went off the road into deeper water, said Mark Brady, a spokesman for the Prince George's fire department.

The Patuxent River Naval Air Station recorded 0.96 inches of rain from Wednesday to Friday, bringing its total for May to about one inch, said Bob Smerbeck, senior meteorologist at Accuweather.com. The normal rainfall at Patuxent River for this time in May is 0.98 inches, he said.

"We're right where we should be this time of the month," he said.

Other areas in the D.C. region recorded much greater rainfall totals in the three days surrounding Thursday night's storm. Reagan National Airport recorded 3.54 inches of rain, bringing its May total to 3.58. The normal rain level for this part of May at Reagan is 1.04 inches, Smerbeck said.

"This looks like this is going to be the wet month," he said.

-- MATT ZAPOTOSKY