Residents in Charles County got their first glimpses of the destruction caused in the wake of historic flooding in the county this week. The storms began on Monday afternoon and lasted through Friday morning, dumping over 20” of rain in some portions of Charles County this week.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Charles County Commissioner President Candice Quinn Kelly (D) said while touring the devastation. “The National Guard is available to us and they’re going to help us get roads open. We’ve got a major problem here.
“(The State of Emergency) allows us to deploy all kinds of resources to evacuate people by the water. It also allows us to get water and supplies and ice in here and puts on the fast track resources that these folks need. We’ve got to get concrete in here, contractors in here to help us. It’s all over the county.
“This is, without doubt, the worst thing I’ve ever seen here in Charles County.”
“We’re assessing storm damage throughout the county,” Commissioner Ken Robinson (D: 1st District) said. “A lot of roads have
been damaged. We’re very fortunate that we’ve had no reported injuries or fatalities.
“The rain is not falling at the amounts that it fell last night. We are still experiencing some light and steady rain but they’ll be intermittent throughout the day. The word is still ‘caution’ when traveling but the waters have significantly receded in most areas since last night.
The worst of the destruction was in Cliffton on the Potomac (in Newburg). Two sinkholes formed in separate parts of Clifton Road, and one was so massive, it made it impossible to get in or out of the development. Running water was partially restored as of Friday but residents are still being told to boil their water.
“We’ve got our Department of Public Works people down here creating a temporary road bed so people can come and go,” Robinson said.
