Roads, basements hit by heavy rains

Torrential rainstorms continued to flood the region yesterday morning, trapping motorists in their cars, causing major delays on Metro’s Red Line during rush hour, closing numerous streets and damaging homes.

Heavy rain began falling in the area Tuesday night and continued through yesterday morning. Baltimore Washington International Airport reported a record 4.45 inches of rain Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. The previous record for July 27 was set in 1897, authorities said.

The region has received 30.96 inches of precipitation so far this summer. In 2003, 55.35 inches fell from June to August.

Local weather analysts say the heavy rain is due to unusual weather patterns.

“Tropical air is the short answer for the increase of rain in the area,” said Scott Stephens, meteorologist for the National Climatic Data Center.

“We’ve had the jet stream travel unusually far south this summer and had a series of frontal passages to act on this moist, humid and unstable airmass, generating the unusual amount of rain and thunder storms that we have seen the last few weeks.”

Wind and rain contributed to the collapse of construction scaffolding on Key Bridge at about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to Maryland Transportation Authority police. No one was hurt, but the accident closed the bridge for several hours.

In some parts of Central Maryland, particularly in Montgomery County, crews had to rescue people from dozens of cars stuck in high water, according to a fire spokesman. Several roads in Bethesda, Kensington and Silver Spring were closed. Police throughout the region also responded to a multitude of minor accidents.

Takoma Park was hit especially hard by the downpours. Floodwaters rose out of Long Branch Creek, cresting six feet above street level and barreling through the neighborhood.

At least two cars were carried downstream in the waters, a picket fence was partially ripped away and debris was strewn down the block.

“It’s never been this bad — it was like a river,” said Donna Peasley, 48, who has lived for 20 years in a basement apartment on Long Branch Parkway, which runs along the creek. The waters had flooded her wall-to-wall carpets and damaged the tile floors.

The recent flooding, while harrowing to travelers and homeowners, has not had a major effect on bodies of water in the area. Bruce Michael, Director of the Department of Natural Resources Tidewater Ecosystem Assessment Division, said the Chesapeake Bay, which is saltwater, isn’t in any immediate danger of flooding into freshwater tributaries.

“The rainfall hasn’t had a dramatic effect on the salinity level. Right now we’re not anywhere near where we were last year. [2003] was a record high for flood levels. The salinity level of the Bay is fairly close to normal.”

A flood in the automatic train control room at the Silver Spring Metro station yesterday slowed service during morning rush hour between the Takoma and Forest Glen stations. Trains had to be manually driven, causing delays of up to 30 minutes, said Steven Taubenkibel, Metro spokesman.

Every other train that normally runs from Shady Grove to the Glenmont station was stopped at Fort Totten during the morning rush hour, while trains that usually travel from Grosvenor to Silver Spring were turned around at Rhode Island Avenue. Shuttle buses were used from the Takoma Station to Glenmont to help alleviate the delays.

By afternoon, rush-hour service was almost back to normal despite delays between the Takoma and Forest Glen stations, Mr. Taubenkibel said.

Virginia Railway Express had morning delays of up to one hour on its Manassas Line. With flood restrictions in effect, trains were limited to 20 mph. One train only began service at Burke Centre, skipping stations in Manassas and Manassas Park, Va.

Three morning trains on the MARC Brunswick Line were slowed to 40 mph as a precautionary measure, causing 15-minute delays. Both VRE and MARC were running normal afternoon service yesterday.

Metro does not expect any significant delays during this morning’s rush hour, but the slowed speeds between Takoma and Forest Glen will continue while equipment damaged from a flood in the control room at Metro’s Silver Spring station is replaced.

“Trains will slow to 25 mph from the regular speed of 55 mph through [the two stations],” Mr. Taubenkibel said.

Metro is still working to clean up and repair the control room, which was under four feet of water.

“There is no timetable on how long it will take to get the [control room] back to normal,” Mr. Taubenkibel said. “The equipment is pretty much fried. It’s like taking your laptop or CD player and putting it under water. It’s done.”