Start Building an Ark!

Rain Wreaks Havoc on Region

By Daniela Deane and Debbi Wilgoren
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, June 26, 2006; 6:42 PM

Transportation authorities struggled to open flooded roads, tunnels and rail lines before the afternoon rush hour Monday as more rain soaked the area and weather forecasters warned of additional flooding for the battered Washington region.

The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning through 11 p.m. but cautioned that flooding could occur through tomorrow because moderate to heavy showers are still hovering over the area.

"Given what happened last night, it's not going to take much to cause flash flooding," said Luis Rosa, a forecaster at the National Weather Service in Sterling.

Meteorologist John Darnley said a stationary front was "parked from New York extending south into Georgia and Florida." He said it was "training, going over and over the same area like a railroad train."

Torrential rains slammed the region with up to 10 inches of rain in the 24-hour period from Sunday to Monday morning, Weather Service meteorologists said. The highest rainfall was reported in Hyattsville.

The Metrorail system, which had been closed in some sections during the morning, reopened by mid-day.

All lanes of the Capital Beltway, which was closed this morning at Telegraph Road because of a mudslide, were re-opened at 10:10 a.m., according to Joan Morris from the Virginia Department of Transportation. The entrance to the Beltway at Eisenhower Road remained closed due to mud, however, Morris said.

I just came in from being out in this. I've lived in DC and environs for 21 years and I've never seen anything like this before. The street flooding and damage is worse than Hurricane Isabel in 2003. A whole bunch of federal agencies are going to be closed tomorrow, and that never happened after the hurricanes we've had in the area. One life-long resident told me that this is the worst since Hurricane Agnes in 1972.

I decided I wanted to go out for dinner. I couldn't remember which block the restaurant I wanted to go to was in, but I figured I'd spot it from the street. Wrong-o. We were all driving about 15 mph, couldn't see the edges of the street or the car in front of me. I've never experienced rain like this north of the tropics. Mindblowing.