Steady weekend rains poured into already swollen Washington-area waterways, causing flooding, washouts and one runaway barge Monday.
The Potomac River — bloated by rain and melted snow — overflowed in parts of Georgetown and the Southwest Waterfront. Some businesses in Old Town Alexandria were closed Monday morning as parts of King Street sat submerged.
Floodwaters also washed out portions of Constitution and Independence avenues, and along Ohio Drive near Hains Point.
In addition, Coast Guard officials reported that high water levels had dislodged a construction barge anchored near the 14th Street Bridge.
The barge rammed into one of the bridge’s support columns, but a Coast Guard spokesman said there was no structural damage and the bridge remained open to traffic.
Such close calls seemed to be the trend throughout the region.
Flooding around the C&O Canal near Georgetown prompted fears early Monday of a breach in one of the canal’s locks, but that rumor proved false.
“The amount of damage that could have happened, or that people expected to happen, did not happen,” said National Park Service spokesman Bill Line.
Line and other officials expressed relief that the weekend’s weather fell short of the severe storm system forecasters had predicted.
“We missed the brunt of the storm,” said Robyn Johnson, a spokeswoman with D.C.’s Department of Emergency Management. “We got lucky.”
Alexandria spokesman Tony Castrilli said the city had “dodged a bullet,” although 40 downtown businesses had to use sandbags to block the rising water.
“The flooding was definitely a nuisance for businesses,” Castrilli said. “But it could have been much worse.”
Though most of the District escaped the weekend’s weather largely unharmed, a spokesman with D.C.’s emergency management agency said the Potomac was still 4 or 5 feet above its usual level. Several area officials warned that rainy weather would threaten the region throughout the spring.
“The unprecedented level of snowfall that we had this year, which is now melting, coupled with all the rain, is and will continue to be a cause for concern,” Line said.
