Torrential Rains, Flash Floods Hit Washington D.C.

Tags: Currents Media, Washington, Washington D.C., Weather

Currents News Staff

Roads turned to rivers, sidewalks to shores, and parking lots to lakes as the Washington, D.C. metro area was pummeled with heavy rain on the morning of July 8 during rush hour. 

Several vehicles were stranded by as much as three feet of water in some areas.

A flash flood warning remains in effect until Monday afternoon as torrential rains hit the Washington D.C. area. 

“It’s just opened up on me, so I knew there was no chance,” said Josh Richards, who turned his car around after encountering flood waters.

“But hey, you got an appointment, you got to keep it. So this is me trying to get there and seeing cars literally under water. So this is just insane,” he said.

Some spots received more than three inches of rain in one hour, sparking a flash flood emergency.

“When I saw the water was reaching my headlights I thought ‘no, no, no, get out of this,’” Richards said. 

According to the National Weather Service, more than a dozen high water rescues have been reported.

First responders and good samaritans alike have helped drivers caught in rapidly rising waters during rush hour.

“There’s always the risk when you are trying to ford the river or any sort of standing water,” explained Mike, who helped pull a car out of flood waters.

“Around here, I figured I know the landscape pretty well. I know how deep the roads are. you can see some certain points, like half way up a fire hydrant might only be a couple feet deep,” he said. 

“You can kind of use some sort of inferences to know how deep it is, but it’s always a risk.”

As of Monday afternoon, Monday has suspended train service south of the nation’s capital, and as the extremely heavy rain continued to fall, emergency responders begged drivers to stay off the roads.