As the rain came down last week, Harriet and Wilbur Moore felt helpless. Their house on South Payne Street has had flooding problems in the past, and they knew that the record-breaking rainfall would probably cause more. Harriet Moore said that she felt helpless as she watched sheets of rain come down from her bedroom window, where the elderly couple has lived for more than 40 years.
“I was praying hard,” said Moore, an Alexandria native. “There was nothing else I could do.”
When the rain finally let up, she ventured into the basement. Family photographs had been destroyed. An old mattress was waterlogged. Pieces of drywall were littering the basement floor. Nevertheless, Moore was happy that the damage wasn’t worse.
“We were blessed,” she said. “It could have been a lot worse.”
The couple’s son came the next day and used old newspapers to soak up some of the water. He helped them move some of the debris out of the house, but the Moores needed much more help. A neighbor called the Alexandria Volunteer Bureau, which sent out an e-mail call for volunteers. Within days, a team of helpers showed up to assist the elderly recover from the flood.
“Four of us showed up at the house on Friday morning, and it took us about an hour” said Gail Parker, who responded to the Volunteer Bureau’s call for assistance. “We did what we could, and that felt good.”
The volunteers mopped out the flooded closet, carried out the ruined mattress, removed the broken drywall and applied disinfectant to areas where standing water created the possibility of mold. Their quick response was one example of the lasting consequences of last week’s flooding — and the spirit of community that makes Alexandria a place where crisis invites compassion.
“Alexandrians have always come to each other’s aid in times of need,” said Mayor Bill Euille. “I am very pleased that our volunteer agencies have stepped forward to provide organized assistance to those who need it most.”
RESPONDING TO the flooding that came at the end of June was a citywide phenomenon, marshalling the all the resources available to City Hall. The Alexandria Volunteer Bureau and Rebuilding Together Alexandria put together a corps of volunteers to assist elderly and disabled residents. City Manager Jim Hartmann instituted a Backflow Preventer Assistance Program to help homeowners purchase hardware to prevent raw sewage from unexpectedly spewing from bathroom. And the city’s Consumer Affairs Office responded to several reports of crews attempting to charge exorbitant rates for cleanup services.
“Most repair, cleaning and restoration contractors in Alexandria are honest and reputable businesses,” said Jacqueline Levy, Alexandria’s Consumer Affairs Administrator. “But experience has shown that unscrupulous operators frequently surface in the aftermath of natural disasters such as this week’s torrential rainfall.”
Meanwhile, investigations are continuing into the reason for the mysterious flooding along Cameron Run — a dangerous lack of drainage that displaced residents and tossed around automobiles as if they were toy cars. In Fairfax County, Lake Barcroft dumped unusually large amounts of water into Cameron Run. And here in Alexandria, construction equipment from the Woodrow Wilson Bridge blocked drainage into the Potomac River.
“Cameron Run should not have flooded like it did,” said Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerry Connolly. “We’ve got to find out why it happened to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.”
This week, Alexandria officials will be meeting with Fairfax officials and representatives from the Army Corps of Engineers to investigate the flooding at Cameron Run.
“The idea is to help get a better understanding of the sources of the water,” said Brian Hannigan, director of communications for the Alexandria city government.
“We want to learn from this so we can respond in the future.”
LAST WEEKEND brought another round of severe weather, with thunderstorms pounding the area on July 2. More than 200 trees were felled as a rapidly developing storm cell expanded through Alexandria. Fort Ward Park alone lost about 40 trees. Areas that were hardest hit were Quaker Lane, Van Dorn Street and Braddock Road. The Seminary Ridge area near Seminary Road and Quaker Lane also experienced significant damage.
Most major streets were reopened by Monday morning, with police officers manning intersections without power for the traffic signals. Dominion Virginia Power estimated that as of 7 p.m. on Monday, approximately 6,500 customers throughout Northern Virginia were still without service. Many areas of Alexandria were without power for more than 24 hours.
“We had to throw out all the food in the refrigerator that had spoiled, and we lost a lot of the food we bought for the holiday weekend,” said Paul Friedman, a Parkfairfax resident who was without power for 24 hours. “It probably cost me about $100.”