Water damaging to Montgomery

By JOSEPH M. DELEON News-Post Staff
jdeleon @ fredericknewspost . com

MONTGOMERY —  Weekend storms pummeled Montgomery County as swelling streams forced road closures and dozens of rescues, while wet roads contributed to accidents.
     An average of 5 inches of rain drowned the county. According to the National Weather Service, 7.65 inches dropped on Norbeck in eastern Montgomery County as of 6 a.m. Monday. About 3 inches fell on Damascus.
     Emergency crews had prepared for the storms.
     Master firefighter Bob Leinhauser of the Upper Montgomery County Volunteer Fire Department readied rescue equipment Friday in anticipation.
     “It's more of a stranded motorist problem,” he said. “We're not going to see any houses wash away.”
     Rescue teams looked for potentially dangerous areas Monday, such as flooded crossings and downed trees.
     Paramedic Peter Dugan hung yellow caution tape across a section of Big Woods Road blocked by a tree.
     “Preparation and waiting for a call is the hardest thing, because we don't know what you're going to fall into,” he said.
     At 2:47 p.m. the wait was over.
     A tan SUV spun into a telephone pole at the 15000 block of Darnestown Road in Germantown, leaving it splintered and hanging from power lines.
     Two women from Shady Grove hung from their seat belts after the wrecked vehicle rolled onto its roof in a foot of water.
     The driver, 31, complained of facial pain. Mr. Dugan cradled her head to keep it out of the water as he cut her safety belt.
     The 23-year-old passenger injured her back. Paramedics improvised a table by turning a rescue basket upside down. It kept her our of the water as they tended to her injury.
     Both were taken to Shady Grove Adventist Hospital. A report on their conditions was not available.
     Lt. David McClintock of Maryland-National Capital Park Police reported about 45 individual rescues Sunday night at Meadowbrook Park in Chevy Chase. In one case, about 30 people attending a bachelor party were rescued from a recreation center.
     Rock Creek swallowed parts of the park with about 4 feet of water.
     Park police trudged through water on submerged foot bridges while three swift water rescue boats carried park visitors to safety.
     About 26 vehicles were salvaged Monday after water flooded past their windows.
     Lt. McClintock said water crippled three police cruisers.
     Two vehicles stalled in high water. One cruiser tumbled into a ravine at Beach Drive and East Stanhope Road in Kensington. The officer was not injured.
     “He went to close a gate to keep people out of that area and the water rose so fast, the officer couldn't get to the cruiser in time,” Lt. McClintock said. “It was a true flash flood situation.”
     He is surprised people ignore the danger of moving water.
     “I had to turn away a young lady twice today,” Lt. McClintock said. She carried an 18-month-old baby as she tried to walk through about a foot of rippling water.
     “It's like being caught in a rip tide,” he said. “If it can move a car, you better believe it can sweep you off your feet.”
     Chuck Gischler, spokesman for the State Highway Administration, said U.S. 29 at Lockwood Drive was closed in Montgomery County.
     The Northwest Branch stream deposited sand, silt, tree branches and rocks on the roadway. About 1,000 feet of U.S. 29 at Lockwood Drive remained closed at 5 p.m. Monday.
     “When you get that kind of volume of rain standing on the roads, all you can do is make sure the chippers and chain saws are ready to roll,” he said.