Heavy rains and flooding caused havoc not only on the roads but also on D.C. area transit Monday morning.
Normalcy has since resumed along Metro’s rail lines, but it was a far cry from the chaos that had deluged the system earlier. Buses, too, were delayed by crowded and dangerous road conditions.
Metro’s Dan Stessel told WTOP around 9:30 a.m. that trains were single-tracking between Clarendon and Ballston after water was reported “coming down pretty heavily inside the station itself” at Virginia Square. Whether it was caused by a leak or a clogged drain, Stessel couldn’t say.
The single-tracking was lifted at about 11:45 a.m., but there were still residual delays.
Hey, @EENewsUpdates, I think I’m going to be late for work. @wmata pic.twitter.com/wg2ycFOp3L
— Niina H. Farah (@niina_h_farah) July 8, 2019
Water poured into the Pentagon Metro, one rider tweeted.
I’m advising commuters not to use the street elevator at Pentagon Metro this morning. #wmata pic.twitter.com/z8bNwAPcPG
— Nick Scalera (@nickscalera) July 8, 2019
Metro also had to single-track on the Red Line in the Friendship Heights area after an insulator malfunction, which can cause smoke to generate. The single-tracking was later lifted
Flooding had also closed the L’Enfant Plaza station entrance at Ninth and D streets Southwest. It reopened Monday evening.
High standing water stopped all Amtrak service into Union Station Monday morning. Service resumed south of D.C. after the stoppage, which lasted a little over an hour. It slowed Virginia Railway Express service as well.
The heavy rain and a water main break also had made the Camden Yards station inaccessible to MARC trains. All Camden Line trains terminated and originated Monday afternoon at the Dorsey Station.
And in Alexandria, Virginia, flooding damaged some of DASH’s equipment. The agency tweeted Monday that the consequences of that damage could be disrupted service “over the next several weeks.”
WTOP’s Jack Pointer contributed to this report.
