WESTERNPORT, Md. — Intense flooding in western Maryland forced the evacuation of 150 students and 50 staff members from Westernport Elementary School on Tuesday, as heavy rains overwhelmed the area.
Rescue crews used boats to evacuate everyone from the school, which sits near Georges Creek—a tributary of the Potomac River that county officials say remains the “most critical area of concern.” The evacuation required 15 boat trips as water levels rose high enough to breach parts of the building’s second floor.
Parent Alley Wade, whose two sons attend the school, described the anxiety of being unable to reach her children due to road closures. “I asked if I could walk through the water, but they told me it wasn’t safe. The floodwater was shifting asphalt and creating deep holes,” she told WUSA9.
Her son Quinton, a student at the school, said he watched floodwaters rush in from the second floor. “A lot of kids were crying and scared,” he said. “There was a lot of trash in the water.”
Alley was later reunited with her sons, though she could only see one of them board a rescue boat from a distance. “It looked like the ocean—it was rough,” she said.
Westernport, home to about 1,800 people along Maryland’s border with West Virginia, received help from emergency crews across the region, including teams from Garrett, Washington, and Preston counties. Additional swift-water rescue teams from Montgomery and Howard counties were also dispatched.
Allegany County officials say evacuations are still ongoing in areas where flooding poses danger. As of Tuesday afternoon, a Flood Watch remained in effect across much of Maryland, D.C., and Northern Virginia.
There’s been no official word on when Westernport Elementary might reopen. Wade expressed doubt that classes would resume quickly, noting that staff vehicles were submerged in the flood.
