Washington DC metro area flooding forces rescues, strands vehicles

By Julia Musto

Published August 11, 2022

Widespread showers and thunderstorms brought flooding to the nation's capital on Wednesday.

Flood watches covered the Washington, D.C., metro area, northern Virginia, parts of Maryland and eastern West Virginia.

The National Weather Service (NWS) office in Baltimore and Washington warned residents of heavy rainfall, isolating damaging wind gusts and flash flooding.

On Thursday, the agency said that the cold front that brought the weather would shift farther south and stall out across parts of central Virginia.

According to FOX Weather, several inches of rain fell during the height of rush hour.

A person stranded on a car in the 600 block of R.I. Ave NE, Washington, D.C. (DC Fire and EMS/Twitter)

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First responders at a water rescue in the 600 block of R.I. Ave NE, Washington, D.C. (DC Fire and EMS/Twitter)

A water rescue from a vehicle in the 600 block of R.I. Ave NE, Washington, D.C. (DC Fire and EMS/Twitter)

D.C. fire and EMS shared pictures of water rescues, with a person trapped on the roof of a car.

"Because the existing trunk sewer can't handle the volume of stormwater. We are building a tunnel beneath RI Avenue to add capacity for a 15-year storm," it replied.

FOX Weather reported that the slow-moving thunderstorms dumped at least 3 inches of rain in a period of two hours.

The station said the wet weather also caused delays at the Ronald Reagan Washington National and Washington Dulles International airports.

Radar analysis from the Fox Forecaster Center showed some areas got more than 2 inches of rain in 20 minutes.

Julia Musto is a reporter for Fox News and Fox Business Digital.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/washington-dc-metro-area-flooding-forces-rescues-strands-vehicles