‘Really horrifying’: People rescued from their vehicles after flash flooding in Prince George’s Co.

Cars in a parking lot float following flash flooding in Riverdale, Maryland, on Monday, Aug. 8, 2022. (WTOP/Kyle Cooper)
Cars that floated due to flash flooding crash into each other following heavy rain in Prince George’s County. (WTOP/Kyle Cooper)
Several streets flood after heavy rain in Prince George’s County on Monday, Aug. 8, 2022. (WTOP/Jose Umana)
Flooding in Prince George’s County, Maryland, on Aug. 8, 2022. (Courtesy Olufunmi Lola Johnson)
Cars on a flooded street in Prince George’s County, Maryland, on Aug. 8, 2022. (Courtesy Prince George's Fire/EMS)
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Some people were briefly trapped after major flooding hit the region Monday afternoon in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

The Riverdale area got the brunt of the flooding in the afternoon.

Olufunmi Lola Johnson told WTOP’s Kyle Cooper that she was working in an office building in the 6000 block of Kenilworth Avenue when she was told that the parking lot was flooding. When she got the news, she went outside to save her pickup truck.



But when she got there, the water was too high.

“The car wouldn’t move. I was stuck in the car,” Johnson said. “You can see my clothes are wet. The water go to my chest.”

A man pulled her from her truck by forcing her door open.

“It was really, really horrifying,” Johnson said.

 

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The water was about 5 feet high at the time she was rescued.

Then, together, both the man and Johnson rescued another woman, pulling her through the window of her car.

“I’m fine, I was just scared,” the woman said.

No one was injured in the rescues.

The Prince George’s County Fire Department also reported making water rescues amid the flooding in Landover Hill and Riverdale.

As much as 4 inches of rain hit the area creating the flash flooding.

WTOP’s Kyle Cooper contributed to this report. 

Valerie Bonk

Valerie Bonk started working at WTOP in 2016 and has lived in Howard County, Maryland, her entire life. She's thrilled to be a reporter for WTOP telling stories on air. She works as both a television and radio reporter in the Maryland and D.C. areas. 

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