Huge water main break traps commuters on Md. road

AP – In this image rendered from video and provided by WJLA-TV, stranded vehicles are observed by a firefighter …

BETHESDA, Md. – A massive water main break trapped about a dozen commuters in their cars Tuesday as the swift, frigid waters flooded a suburban Washington road, and rescuers in helicopters and boats had to pluck people from the whitewater unleashed by an aging pipe.

Two people in a minivan climbed into a basket lowered by a helicopter as the floodwaters raged past them, spraying water on a rescuer reaching out to save them, television images showed. Crews also used a boat to rescue motorists from waters at least 4 feet deep.
Montgomery County fire officials believed everyone was safe. However, several people rescued were treated for hypothermia. The temperatures outside were in the 20s.
A man who lives about 50 feet from the street described the immediate, unexpected flood after the pipe, about 5- 1/2 feet in diameter, ruptured.
"I thought it might be a minor leak, then suddenly I stepped outside and, 'My God!'" said Raj Bhansaly. "It looked literally like the Potomac River."
Fire spokesman Pete Piringer said crews had trouble getting to people because of the swift-moving water. Officials said 135 million gallons of water per minute were gushing out at one point.
From his house, Bhansaly said he saw two cars tied to rescue vehicles with ropes. He said he wasn't worried about water damage to his home because it sits on a hill.
The water main broke about 8 a.m. on River Road near the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, authorities said. Montgomery County schools were closing about 2 1/2 hours early because the main break caused widespread water outages across part of the county.
John White, a Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission spokesman, said it was not yet clear what caused the break.
Because of the gushing water's intensity, fire officials did not allow utility workers to immediately shut down valves where the break occurred, White said. But crews were able to shut down two valves farther down the pipeline, slowing the flow.
There have been several major water main breaks this year in the wealthy suburb of Montgomery County. In June, a rupture closed more than 800 restaurants and left tens of thousands of people scrambling for clean drinking water.
The Washington Suburban Sanitation Commission has warned its system is aging, overtaxed and underfunded. It serves 1.8 million suburban Maryland customers and has had an increasing number of water main breaks, including 1,357 between January and November this year. Last year, it had a record 2,129 breaks or leaks.
White said the pipe that broke Tuesday was installed in 1964.
"We're plagued by old pipes," White said. "Throughout the nation, aging infrastructure is a problem."
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Associated Press writers Brian Westley and Nafeesa Syeed in Washington and AP photographer Jacquelyn Martin in Bethesda contributed to this story