Terror in classroom as flash flooding sends gushing river onto campus while students flee
Around 150 school children and 50 teachers fled by boat after Westernport Elementary School was deluged by raging floodwaters on Tuesday.
The water rose so quickly that the students were trapped inside the building, including brothers William and Quinton Wade.
'I'm just happy to be alive,' fourth-grade student William Wade told CBS.
'I went on a motorboat and they drove us over to where there was no water and we saw how high the water was,' he added.
'We went over to the train tracks and we got on like this little truck thingy. We took off our life vests, and they drove us up to a church.'
'Whenever we were going down to get in the boat, the first floor was flooded,' second-grade student Quinton added.
Longtime Westernport resident and mother of the two boys Alley Wade said she has never seen flooding so bad in the rural town, which sits close to the West Virginia border.
'I have never. Now, I believe there was a bad flood in 1996, but I was 4,' she told CBS.
Homes and businesses in downtown Westernport were also inundated with floodwaters after hours of heavy rain.
Officials reassured the public that students and staff were safe as concerned parents and other community members posted on social media wondering how long the emergency situation would last at Westernport Elementary School.
Allegany County spokesperson Kati Kenney said responders used rescue boats to safely evacuate the school. About 150 students and 50 adults were evacuated during 15 boat trips.
Kenney said additional evacuations were underway in nearby areas, with reports of people trapped in cars and houses, but no injuries had been reported as of late Tuesday afternoon.
She said emergency crews from surrounding counties were helping with the response in the small community near the West Virginia line.
Another elementary school was also evacuated, and students at a middle school were sheltering in place, the Allegany County Department of Emergency Services said Tuesday evening. Officials said three emergency shelters had been opened across the county.
Aaron Stallings, rushed to Westernport Elementary to pick up his little sister earlier Tuesday afternoon, but he soon realized his car wouldn't make it. Stallings said he hopped a fence and made his way on foot through the shin-deep water.
'I knew my car was not going to get through, so I had to find an alternate route,' he said.
Stallings said children were being kept on the second and third floors when he made his way inside. Minutes after he located his sister with the help of the principal, the water level on the first floor had already risen again to his knees and was rushing under the school doors.
Once he waded back outside with his sister, Stallings turned around to capture video of the scene, where parked cars and a dumpster were floating through the school's parking lot.
Alley Wade also left work early when she heard about flooding downtown. She and her husband hoped to pick up their two sons, ages 8 and 10, but they couldn't get to the school because roads were already closed. Instead, they spent most of the afternoon standing around in the rain anxiously watching the floodwaters rise.
'It was stressful because I felt so helpless,' Wade said.
The family was finally reunited after the students had been evacuated. Wade said there were a lot of crying kids, but thankfully everyone was safe.
Roads throughout the area were closed due to flooding, including major arteries, according to the Allegany County Sheriff's Office.
Westernport Mayor Judy Hamilton said the town has been prone to severe flooding in the past, but they weren't expecting it today.
'It just seemed to happen all at once,' she said. 'My heart is breaking.'
She said the evacuated students were taken to higher ground and sheltered in a church building, where they would be kept safe by teachers and staff until their parents could pick them up.
Around 150 school children and 50 teachers fled by boat after Westernport Elementary School was deluged by raging floodwaters on Tuesday
With a population under 2,000 people, Westernport is located in the far corner of western Maryland. Its downtown took shape in a valley where George's Creek flows into the North Branch Potomac River.
The National Weather Service reported widespread flash flooding in the area Tuesday afternoon.
'We are closely monitoring the flood conditions that are present across Western Maryland due to heavy rainfall, especially in Allegany County,' Gov. Wes Moore said in a social media post, adding that the state and local authorities were actively responding to the inundation.
Hamilton said the last time Westernport suffered from devastating floods was in 1996.
'But we're strong and we always build back,' she said.
In West Virginia, Gov. Patrick Morrisey declared a state of emergency Tuesday night in Mineral County, along the Maryland border, due to severe storms and heavy rains that resulted in flash flooding. The declaration allows the state to mobilize personnel and resources to the area.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Two wildfires in US west spur ‘fire clouds' with erratic weather systems
Two wildfires burning in the western United States – including one that has become a 'mega-fire' on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon – are so hot that they are spurring the formation of 'fire clouds' that can create their own erratic weather systems. In Arizona, the wind-whipped wildfire that destroyed the Grand Canyon Lodge is 9% contained and has charred more than 164 sq miles (424 sq km) to become the largest fire now burning in the continental US and one of the top 10 largest in recorded Arizona history. Getting around it would be roughly like driving from New York City to Washington DC. Another large fire in Monroe, Utah, has burned 75 sq miles (194 sq km) since 13 July and is 11% contained, officials said on Thursday. Evacuation orders were issued on Wednesday for several towns in the fire's path, and scorched power poles caused electricity to be shut off in other nearby communities in south-central Utah. Spencer Cox, Utah's governor, declared an emergency on Thursday as wildfires grew around the state and planned to visit Monroe on Friday. Towering convection clouds known as pyrocumulus clouds have been spotted over Arizona's blaze for seven consecutive days, fueling the fire with dry, powerful winds, fire information officer Lisa Jennings said. They form when air over the fire becomes superheated and rises in a large smoke column. The giant billowing clouds can be seen for hundreds of miles and can resemble an anvil. Their more treacherous big brother, a fire-fueled thunderstorm known as the pyrocumulonimbus cloud, sent rapid winds shooting in all directions this week as a smoke column formed from the Utah fire then collapsed on itself, fire team information officer Jess Clark said. 'If they get high enough, they can also create downdrafts, and that's something we really watch out for because that can quickly spread the fire and can be very dangerous for firefighters who are doing their work on the ground,' Jennings said. Multiple fire crews in Utah were forced to retreat on Wednesday as the unpredictable climate created by the clouds threatened their safety, officials said. Fire crews in both Utah and Arizona had better control of the blazes, but containment has been slipping as the fires grow rapidly. The same type of cloud, which the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has dubbed the 'fire-breathing dragon of clouds', recently formed a fire tornado that tore through an eastern Utah neighborhood with wind speeds estimated at 122 miles per hour. 'Think of the fire as kind of like a hot-air balloon, so it adds buoyancy and things rise as a result,' said Derek Mallia, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Utah who studies pyrocumulonimbus clouds and tracks fires in Utah and Arizona. 'You get this towering thunderstorm over the fire, and just like any other thunderstorm it gets really windy underneath it. Because it's the west, these thunderstorms tend to be very dry.' These clouds, he said, may appear more frequently as the climate crisis causes a longer fire season, drought conditions and extreme weather events. A megafire, although not a formal scientific term, generally is a fire that has burned at least 156 sq miles, or about half the size of New York City. The Dragon Bravo fire on the North Rim of Grand Canyon national park surpassed that mark in the latest update on Thursday. It was sparked by lightning on 4 July and being managed by the park to benefit the landscape. About a week later, officials switched to suppressing it as conditions deteriorated, with hot, dry and windy weather pushing the flames toward the Grand Canyon Lodge and the historic cabins that surround it. The fire destroyed dozens of buildings and forced the closure of the North Rim for the rest of the season as hundreds of firefighters struggled to gain an upper hand. Thursday marked the eighth straight day of historically dry conditions, Jennings said. Humidity levels have been in the single digits, fuel moisture levels are extremely low and wind gusts were expected to crank up to 35mph. The pyrocumulus clouds have reached heights of at least 25,000ft (7,620 meters), and fire behavior analyst Arthur Gonzales said they could go higher. The direction of the wind has been fairly consistent for crews working the Dragon Bravo fire. Although they have been strong, the predictability has allowed fire managers to more easily position crews on the fire lines. But when pyrocumulus clouds form and the winds become less predictable, Jennings said firefighters often have to be pulled back to safety. Hot, dry winds fanned the flames of the Monroe Canyon fire on Thursday as firefighters worked to contain the spread. The fire has burned 12 power poles, and many homes have been without electricity since Wednesday afternoon. The National Weather Service issued red flag warnings for extreme fire danger in much of central and south-west Utah this week. In Antimony, Utah, 54 miles south of Monroe, the town's 123 residents were without power on Thursday afternoon. Mayor Kasey King, who was helping people gather food and supplies at a community center, said they could be without power for a week. The power company, Garkane Energy Cooperative, said it was working to restore power as quickly as possible and has brought in backup generators. Marnie Reynolds, a resident of Antimony, worried for the town's many elderly residents. She has been using a camp stove to offer hot meals to neighbors and is using a generator to help people refrigerate groceries and medications. 'We have been facing a lot of challenges, but we have the best community,' she said. In Richfield, Utah, 10 miles north of Monroe, Lee Stevens said his yard was coated in ash. He and his wife, who has asthma and is sensitive to the smoke, have not yet been told to evacuate but are making preparations in case the fire spreads. The National Interagency Fire Center said on Thursday that even with fewer square miles having burned so far this year than average, many parts of the country remain vulnerable to new starts and fast-moving flames.
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Weather tracker: deadly floods devastate northern China
At least 70 people have died in northern China after another bout of torrential rain triggered flooding, the latest in a series of extreme rainfall events in recent months. Between 23 and 29 July, Beijing and its surrounding areas recorded an average of 166mm, equivalent to the monthly norm. The suburban district of Miyun received the highest amount of rainfall, with 543mm recorded, equivalent to the region's annual average. The death toll included 31 people in a Miyun care home, 10 who were swept away in a minibus in Shangxi province, and eight people in a landslide in the city of Chengde. Floods also damaged roads and vital infrastructure, cutting off more than 130 rural villages and leading to the evacuation of more than 80,000 people from their homes. The increasing frequency of high-rainfall events in China has been linked to rising global temperatures; each degree in warming enables the atmosphere to hold 7% more moisture. Meanwhile, Japan is braced for Tropical Storm Krosa on Friday, which is expected to skirt past the south-eastern Kanto region via the Izu islands. Although Krosa travelled towards Japan during its initial north-westerly path, a forecasted change to a more north-easterly direction means the system is likely to avoid a direct hit. However, its close proximity to the Chiba region may bring 120-200mm of rain in 24 hours. This week, as much of Europe experiences below-average temperatures, parts of Scandinavia have been engulfed by unusually intense heat. Prolonged heatwave conditions swept the north of the continent in mid-July, driven by exceptionally high sea-surface temperatures off Norway's northern coast and a stubborn area of high pressure that brought sunny weather and sinking, compressing air. As a result, temperatures in Norway, Sweden and Finland rose 8-10C (46-40F) above seasonal norms and remained elevated for nearly two weeks. The Norwegian counties of Trøndelag and Nordland exceeded 30C for 13 consecutive days, including in Storforsheia, just north of the Arctic Circle. It was the warmest two-week period on record in several areas. In the past week, the heat has shifted north and east, easing across much of Norway and Sweden and pushing temperatures 10-15C above normal in Finland and north-western Russia. Temperatures in the upper 20s celsius are likely to persist for at least the next five days several hundred miles north of the Arctic Circle.
Reuters
5 hours ago
- Reuters
Explainer: How prepared are U.S. grid operators for extreme heat this summer?
Aug 1 (Reuters) - Grid operators across the U.S. are revamping their forecasting methods, introducing reforms to power markets and streamlining interconnection processes to quickly connect more energy to the grid, as a potent combination of extreme weather and data center growth elevate power demand this summer. High temperatures and the expansion of power-hungry data centers are set to push 2025 summer power consumption to higher levels than the past four summers, federal regulators said earlier this year. Heat waves have already strained the power grid in parts of the country in recent weeks. 'Extreme weather events are becoming more common, and we are adjusting our planning for that,' said Dan Lockwood, PJM Interconnection spokesperson. Here's how grid operators are positioned to meet demand this summer, and longer-term measures they are taking to shore up the system. Heading into the summer, PJM had forecast power consumption to peak at just over 154,000 MW. The company, which is the largest grid operator in the U.S. and serves one in five Americans, said it is prepared to meet that demand, but warned that it could touch an all-time high of 166,000 MW in an extreme scenario. In that case, it would call on customers to reduce their power use in exchange for compensation. PJM has been streamlining its interconnection process to bring new power onto the grid. It has also fast-tracked projects that do not require extensive grid upgrades to connect to the system to get them online quicker. California Independent System Operator estimated it has a power surplus of 1,451 MW this summer, measured against the industry-standard, one in 10 year emergency event. That marks a reversal from three years ago, when it estimated a shortfall of 1,700 MW. CAISO has also been moving to quickly add new power to its grid, with around 25 GW added over the last five years, said Dede Subakti, vice president of system operations. Much of this has been battery storage, which helps balance supply and demand, bringing CAISO's total pool of battery storage to 11 GW. 'With all this additional capacity, we're sitting pretty good with 2025 summer,' Subakti said. However, the grid could still see shortfalls if a prolonged heat-wave affects the entire West, or if potential wildfires damage power transmission lines, CAISO said. ISO New England anticipates electricity demand will touch 24,803 MW this summer under normal weather conditions - and potentially 25,886 MW in case of extended heat waves - but expects to have adequate power to meet that. ISO-NE is one of the grid operators that is evaluating changes to its capacity auction to bolster grid reliability. This includes transitioning to a 'prompt' auction, held shortly before the power is needed, compared with the current practice of holding them three years in advance. In addition, it is looking to move to two seasonal commitment periods per year for the auction, to tackle the distinct risks that summer and winter demand pose to the grid. It intends to file an initial proposal for this new market structure with federal regulators before year end. Midcontinent Independent System Operator predicted that peak demand in its footprint could reach nearly 123 GW this summer, with roughly 138 GW of available power generation to meet that. Like other grid operators, however, it warned that extreme weather events still present a risk to the grid. MISO, which has been operating near its minimum reserve margin requirement since 2022, has also been making changes to its wholesale markets as grid risks grow, including assessing the reliability of its infrastructure on a seasonal basis. It implemented a 'reliability-based demand curve' in its latest auction, under which the price of electricity resources increases as the grid approaches its minimum requirements. MISO has added around 31 GW of nameplate power to its grid from 2020 through mid-2025, with another 10.9 GW estimated for this year. Meanwhile, nearly 11 GW of power resources have or are set to retire between 2020 through early 2026.
