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(News update) Buckets of rain flood St. Mary's roads, delay schools
Nor'easter dropped 5 to 7 inches
Friday, Nov. 13, 2009
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Posted at 11:37 p.m. Friday
The leftovers of Tropical Storm Ida turned into a nor'easter and targeted St. Mary's in particular on Wednesday and Thursday, bringing heavy rain, high winds and high tides.
The National Weather Service issued flood warnings throughout the day Thursday. High tides around 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. that day brought water over some roads at St. George Island, said David Zylak, director of the St. Mary's County Department of Public Safety. The road onto the island had to be closed to incoming traffic Thursday night and Friday morning.
Newtowne Neck Road in Leonardtown was impassable Friday morning over a stream leading to McIntosh Run.
St. Mary's County schools opened two hours late Friday due to the weather.
A coastal flood warning was issued Thursday for the Patuxent and Potomac rivers, and the tide was expected to be 3 to 4 feet higher than normal. Winds gusted near 40 mph at times at Patuxent River Naval Air Station during the storm.
Weather observers in St. Mary's recorded between 5 and 7 inches of rainfall from Wednesday to Thursday.
The St. Mary's County Metropolitan Commission reported two sewer overflows Thursday caused by the excessive rain. A manhole at Old Missouri Street in Lexington Park and a line through the side of the base were overflowing Thursday afternoon. Because of all the water and dilution, no adverse health impact was expected, MetCom officials said.
"We're riding out the last of the high tide," said Francis Jack Russell (D), president of the county commissioners, on Friday morning. He lives at the end of Piney Point Road at St. George Island. He said the water was still coming up at 10:30 a.m. and it was 3 to 4 inches above his dock. "We're way off what Isabel was," by about 18 inches, when that hurricane struck the area in September 2003.
Callaway lost power for about an hour Thursday night as trees fell on power lines. "There were a ton of them," coming down, said Jackie Shaw, director of emergency management for the public safety department. Otherwise, "the public's been very quiet," as there were no calls for rescue.
