Rain continued to soak the Washington region Thursday, forcing the Beltway to close in Northern Virginia, stranding commuters and flooding roads and buildings in Prince George’s and Fairfax counties. The Beltway was closed in both directions in Alexandria Thursday evening after the Virginia Department of Transportation determined the highway was unsafe.
The remnants of Tropical Storm Lee are expected to cause even more damage by Friday as the National Weather Service placed the entire region under a flash flood watch until late Thursday or early Friday morning.
Storms have dumped half a foot of rain on much of the region since Monday, with some areas, including parts of Montgomery County, getting as much as 8.5 inches, according to the weather service. Forecasters said the region would get another inch or more Thursday night, aggravating the area’s flooding problems.
Local rescuers pulled scores of people from cars and houses across the region, and at least one person drowned. Anne Arundel County police said a man was pulled from high water behind his Pasadena home Wednesday night but could not be revived. He died at the hospital.
Rain and floods slowed commutes throughout the region.
Officials closed hundreds of roads. MARC trains battled flooding in the tunnel at the Bowie station and ran at reduced speeds, while VRE trains also slowed for fallen trees and flooding suspended bus service in parts of Fairfax County.
Water completely covered two lanes of westbound Route 4 near Old Marlboro Pike in Prince George’s County, with traffic backed up about half a mile as cars were forced to turn around on an exit ramp to escape the flooding.
Foot-high water rushed down Crain Highway off Route 4, carrying fallen tree limbs along in white rapids. Water rushed into the parking lot of a nearby Ford dealership, reaching the windows of cars parked on the lot.
Officials urged drivers to turn away from standing water rather than try to drive through it.
“This storm is very different from the effects of Hurricane Irene,” said Darrell Mobley, Maryland’s acting highway administrator. “Up to 10 inches of rain fell within a 24-hour period, and inevitably water found its own way, causing road closures and dangerous driving conditions.”
The water flooded buildings as well as roads, with Prince George’s County bearing the brunt of the storm in the D.C. area. Hallways in the county’s government building became pools of standing water. County firefighters evacuated 12 people and two dogs from homes and businesses near the intersection of Marlboro Pike and Peerless Avenue — the same area where officers rescued three people from a stranded car Wednesday night.
The city of Upper Marlboro was inaccessible by car Thursday evening, with flooding on every road and 8 feet of standing water at the town’s main entrance, Water Street.
The D.C. Department of Public Works distributed 2,100 sandbags to city residents by 5:30 p.m. Thursday and promised to keep passing them out until midnight.
