As the sun shined on the District on Friday, city officials assessed the storm damage and counted their blessings that the record-breaking rains didn’t do as much destruction as they could have.
Collapsed trees uprooted roads, rains flooded historic museums and power outages caused gridlock downtown, but over all, the District performed well, Mayor Anthony Williams said.
On Tuesday, he called a state of an emergency as a precautionary measure.
“As for the District’s response, the mayor is very proud,” mayoral spokesman Vince Morris wrote in an e-mail. “Downed trees, power outages, mudslides, trash — everything was handled very quickly. We also are fortunate that the weather improved a bit.”
Earlier this week, Williams admitted the city could have done better in moving the traffic after there were reports that police stayed in their vehicles instead of directing the cars.
D.C. officials still have not determined the financial impact of the storm, although transpiration officials estimate it’ll cost several million dollars to repair roads that were washed out and torn up the 55 trees that fell from the storm.
Most of the damage and evacuations occurred to neighbors to the north and south.
In Fairfax County, where the water had risen up to 10 feet in some streets, officials estimate they’ve had more than $11.4 million in damage, including the loss of 245 homes, a business and a pedestrian trial.
In Montgomery County, emergency officials ordered the unprecedented evacuation of 2,200 people from 1,200 homes as the Lake Needwood dam in Rockville threatened to crack from the pressure of the floods.
At a glance
» The flood damage at the National Archives was expected to cost at least $2 million to repair, but the Archives still planned to host its annual Fourth of July reading of the Declaration of Independence on Tuesday.
» Most of the road damage occurred along Rock Creek Park, where fallen trees uprooted the streets.
» Reagan National Airport recorded 9.65 inches of rain in 48 hours and 7.09 inches Monday, second only to 7.19 inches when Hurricane Agnes passed through in June 1972, the weather service said.
