Water Main Break Forces Dramatic Rescue of Nine

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Rescue Workers Save Stranded Drivers

Emergency personnel rescue trapped motorists from a flooded street after a 66-inch water main burst in Montgomery County Tuesday morning.

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The pipe burst along a hilly section of the road, turning the downhill section into a river. At its height, the break spewed 150,000 gallons a minute onto the road.

The water main burst just before 8 a.m., and dispatchers began fielding 911 calls from stranded motorists moments later.

"I have a child in the car! I don't want the car to wash away!" one woman told a dispatcher, breathing heavily into the phone. "Hurry up, I'm so scared."

On the recording of the call, she can be heard consoling her 9-year-old child: "It's okay, sweetie. Don't worry, my darling."

Another woman pleaded for help as water poured into her black Honda Accord, reaching her knees. As the dispatcher instructed her to get as much of her body out of the frigid water as possible, the woman began screaming that her car was moving.

"No, no, please!" the woman screamed. "I'm going down!"

As it happened, three firefighters from Cabin John were just then heading up River Road in a fire engine, on their way to withdraw money from an ATM for the night's dinner fund. Near Seven Locks Road, traffic was backed up, and they saw what appeared to be smoke rising from an uphill section of River Road. Thinking there might be a car fire or toxic spill, they began pulling on their gear.

They arrived to find motorists stranded and water gushing.

"The road literally exploded, and a glacier of water started pouring over cars," said one of the three, Anthony Bell, a 22-year veteran who was driving.

Bell pulled the engine closer to the stranded vehicles. Phelps changed into a dry suit and grabbed a pike pole, similar to a tall walking stick, to help determine where pavement might have washed out in front of him as he waded into the raging water.

First, he reached Sharon Schoem, a teacher from Loudoun County. She had earlier called her fiance. "Oh my God," she recalled telling him. "It looks like I'm in a river."

Phelps decided there wasn't time to put life jackets on her or the others who were close enough for the firefighters to reach by truck or on foot. Of particular concern were the force of the water and the debris swirling in it, including pieces of asphalt six feet across.