Water Main Break Forces Dramatic Rescue of Nine

Gallery

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.

» LAUNCH PHOTO GALLERY

"We were worried cars were going to get swept down the road," Phelps said.

In many ways, the rescue was more dangerous than those more routinely performed on the Potomac River, firefighters said. On the Potomac, rescuers know rocks and gullies well. Not so on a washed-out road full of debris and vehicles.

Phelps also reached Silvia Saldana, a nanny from Springfield who was headed to her employer's home in Potomac. A car in front of Saldana's had stalled and slid backward, hitting her car on the way.

"I thought, 'I guess this is my day,' " said Saldana, 56, speaking through a Spanish interpreter later as her eyes teared up.

Reaching two others, in a blue Kia Rio, Phelps opened the hatchback, motioned for them to crawl out and shouted, "Fast! Now!"

Up the hill, firefighters couldn't get to a pair of vehicles surrounded by water. Sgt. Nathan Wheelock had arrived in a Maryland State Police helicopter stationed at Andrews Air Force base. He lowered a basket 120 feet, knifing it through an opening of less than 40 feet across between trees and power lines.

Wheelock guided the basket to the window of a car, where a woman crawled inside, and hoisted the basket up. "Thank you," the woman said, grabbing Wheelock in a bear hug.

He lowered the basket again. A woman and her young son climbed in and were hoisted up.

All three had water and ice on their clothes. They were flown to Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, where they were evaluated and released, officials said.

Farther uphill, and closer to the water main rupture, helicopters could not maneuver to get baskets close to the cars. That's where Espinola was trapped until the boat arrived.

To her, it was an answer to her prayers -- to Jesus, the Virgin Mary, St. Anthony, more saints, her late relatives.

"Please don't take me too soon, Mother," she remembers praying. "I want to see you, but not yet."

Staff writers Daniel de Vise, Nelson Hernandez, Rosalind S. Helderman and Debbie Cenziper contributed to this report.