The Flooding of Marumsco Creek

Heavy rains all week led to the flooding of Marumsco Creek, normally a small, quiet creek that dives off of the Potomac River and jut horizontally into Woodbridge, running below Route 1. By Thursday, after 3 consecutive days of monsoon-type rain, it overflowed, flooding businesses and destroying an adjacent trailor park. From what people had to say the flooding and destruction happened in the course of less than an hour. Here are my pictures of the heavy rains as I saw them in Manassas, and the aftermath the next day, after we realized what happened in Woodbridge. I should also mention that no one was killed or even significantly injured. The damage is pretty substantial, so this was very fortunate for everyone involved, even if they did lose their homes and most everything in them.

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The rain on Thursday was ridiculous. So I walked outside the office and strolled around Old Town Manassas making pictures...

Just outside Manassas, near Ben Lomond Park, the creek (Flat Branch) overflowed into dozens of houses backyards and basements. This was the first indication to me that the rain was not just an annoyance, but had real potential for disaster.

By Thursday evening the worst of the flooding had occured in Woodbridge. I didn't know about it until I was home and checking email, internet. First thing the next morning I checked out the Red Cross shelter set up at my old school, Woodbridge High. Then I went to their neighborhood, Holly Acres Mobile Home park.

It was pretty sad what I saw there. People just stuffing what they thought they could salvage into garbage bags and carrying them through the mud and raw sewage to their waiting trucks and cars. Many trailors had been tossed right off their cement blocks. SUVs ended up in trees. But again, no injuries. Pretty remarkable.

Everything beyond the cones was condemned. This was about 50-60 homes.