Rain, Winds Ravage Area; Homes Lost, Roads Closed

"I said, 'Frank, just hang on. Don't give up,' " Hall said. "It's just got to be frightening."

Neighbors said this week that they had pressed town and county officials for more than a year to try to block construction of the partially completed structure that fell. They said they were concerned that it would be much taller than their three-story homes and that it stood too close to its neighbors. In addition, they said, the owner of the collapsed house let it sit for long periods of time without doing any work, causing the structure to deteriorate.

"We've often said when we had people over, 'How long is that house going to stand?' " said Jim Fischer, 60, who lives next to the damaged houses. "The elements have hit it all winter, and now here it is."

The owner of the house, Frank Leniek, declined to comment for this report.

Neighbors including the Hudsons had filed letters of complaint with Chesapeake Beach town officials beginning in June 2005, arguing the building exceeded height limits, did not fit with the character of the neighborhood and did not comply with site plan standards, among other issues. In November 2006, they went before the Board of Appeals to argue their case, but the board denied the challenge.

The board's Jan. 10, 2007, decision said the property was under the 35-foot limit. It also said that language in the code addressing preservation of community character "is so overly broad that a permit could be granted or denied on almost any ground."

The neighbors' complaints regarding lot standards and other issues were not addressed by the board because they were not specifically cited in the application for appeal, the decision said.

"The citizens in that neighborhood, which is my neighborhood, have been opposed to that house and the way it was going to be built from Day One," said Town Council member Pat Mahoney, who testified on behalf of his neighbors during the appeal. "The effort was unsuccessful. Mother Nature did what she did, and we all know what happened. Two people almost died."

The storm that hit the region Sunday and Monday generated rainfall levels that would be normal for the entire month of May, said John Gresiak, a meteorologist with AccuWeather. Patuxent River Naval Air Station recorded 2.12 inches of rain during the storm, bringing its monthly total so far to 3.21 inches. Normal rainfall there for May is 3.38 inches. Reagan National Airport recorded 3.76 inches of rain during the storm, bringing its monthly total so far to 7.75 inches, compared with a norm of 3.82 inches for all of May.

"That storm yesterday was pretty amazing for this time of year," Gresiak said Tuesday. "It's more like something you would see in the winter."

Shreve, acting director of utilities for Charles, said the wastewater treatment plant was processing nearly 40 million gallons of water compared with its normal 11 million. He said Charles measured nearly 8.5 inches of rain during the weekend storms.

Gresiak said the May storms have been caused by a southward dip in the jet stream, which has brought cooler air to the East Coast from the Northwest. That air, mixing with the warm coastal waters sparks storms, he said.

"At this point, it looks like we're going to be in a pattern that's going to continue to give us cooler-than-average weather and probably weather that's more unsettled," he said, adding that more rain might come tomorrow.

Staff writer Jenna Johnson contributed to this report.