Flooding Causes Road Closures, Evacuations & Rescues In Maryland
BALTIMORE (WJZ/AP) -- Maryland is underwater once again with the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee dumping incredible amounts of rain over the last 24 hours or so.
In some areas, roads are looking more like rivers with some areas completely blocked off.
Derek Valcourt has the latest on serious flooding there and around the Baltimore area.
Heavy rainfall has flooded roads and swelled waterways in the mid-Atlantic region, posing challenges.
In Annapolis, officials say the Annapolis dam has overflowed and nearby Route 450 was closed early Thursday. A number of other roads in Anne Arundel County have also been closed due to flooding.
In Prince George's County, the county administration building and county courthouse have been closed. In addition, officials have closed Route 301 near Route 4 in Upper Marlboro.
In Charles County, all public schools have been closed and government officers are opening two hours late.
Meanwhile, in Cecil County a voluntary evacuation has been announced for Port Deposit due to flooding along the Susquehanna River. The order calls for a voluntary evacuation of all of Main Street by 4 p.m. Click here for a slideshow of the flooding.
In Ellicott City, many businesses closed Thursday as they try to recover from the flooding rushing through Main Street.
"We believe the Tiber River clogged up, and that's what caused the river to overflow the bank, and then the river just ran down the road," said Ron Peters, Howard House.
So serious it caused a rock wall to collapse on cars.
"We're lucky that no one was in these cars," said Howard County Executive Ken Ulman. "We want to make sure there's no other walls like this that could come down in the next few days."
In Baltimore County, several Cockeysville businesses are still assessing their damage after water deluged one stretch of York Road.
"It was the largest flood we've seen here over the last 20 years," said Jack Tyrie, Cockeysville business owner.
In Cockeysville, some of the waters have retreated, but fields are still flooded and the cleanup will take days.
Cars businesses and homes in the floods all ruined. The water levels still visible inside the walls of damaged buildings.
"I've never seen it come up so fast," said Ed Henry. "Normally once it crests this bank over here, you have 10-15 minutes. We had less than 5 [minutes] and it was in the shop."
All along the western side of the county, road after road still washed out. Many are still closed. Some drivers chose not to cross covered roads. Others learned the hard way. Their cars still stranded.
"Within 15 minutes, her car was underwater," said Paul Seymer. "The only thing you could see was the top portion of it."
Many businesses still pumping out what Mother Nature pumped in. Even professional rescue crews had a hard time managing raging waters.
"The current picked up, flipped our boat out from under us," one crew member said.
Even in flood prone areas along the Gwynns Falls, residents says it's been decades since they've seen this much water.
"This is amazing I've seen the water come up to where that gold car is but I've never seen it come up to the point where I couldn't drive in the alley. This is absolutely amazing," said one resident.
Work also for BGE crews dealing with thousands of power outages from the storms and resulting flooding.
Because trees are so soggy, trees are continuing to fall on power lines. Right now 2,568 BGE customers are without power. The utility has already restored power to more than 69,000 homes.
The best advice is to be extremely careful. Just a few inches of flowing water is enough to carry your car away.
Forecasters say heavy runoff from rivers and streams will continue into the weekend.
