Flooding again hit Greenbelt on Wednesday, August 10, as rain pelted the city, leaving as much as three inches of water in an hour, according to the National Weather Service.
Greenbelt Police tweeted a warning to residents: “Do not travel through flooded roadways – even shallow water can quickly disable a vehicle.”
Flood waters were spotted in Greenbelt West, Greenbelt East and Central Greenbelt. Parke Crescent Apartments, on Crescent Road adjacent to Roosevelt Center, flooded once again and was the site of a serious water-rescue.
A resident, who didn’t want to be identified but did give her video of the flood to NBC Channel 4 News, was completely flooded in her apartment, with water rising to 5 feet. She floated on her mattress while waiting for rescue. Outside, standing in hip-deep water, the firefighters could not open the doors because of water pressure and had to break the window to get her out safely.
The floodwater was trapped between the apartments and the retaining wall, leaving no place for the rain water to move but into the apartment.
This is the second water-rescue firefighters have performed in this apartment complex in as many years (greenbeltnewsreview.com/issues/GNR20210819.pdf).
Mayor Emmett Jordan said the August 10 storm was amazing. “The amount of rainfall is more than the stormwater system can handle,” he said. When asked why the apartments were occupied and allowed to flood again, he said, “We [the City of Greenbelt] don’t have full authority over use and occupancy.” That authority rests in the county planning board, he explained.
Jordan said he had been thinking about the previous occupants of those flood-prone apartments, and, in fact, those apartments came up in the August 3 council worksession. Director of Planning and Community Development Terri Hruby told council then that the two apartments decimated by flooding in August 2021 met the city code for habitation but had not been rented (see greenbeltnewsreview.com/issues/GNR20220811.pdf).
The recent storms, Jordan said, have been hard on the city and “Public Works has been doing a phenomenal job.”
Willis Shafer, director of Greenbelt Public Works, said he was there watching the storm on August 10. He and his crew went to the flooded area and cleaned up the debris on the public rights of way and sidewalks as quickly as possible.
While Public Works dealt with clearing storm drains, the August rain came just as the crews were starting to relax a little, Shafer said. After the wind storm on July 12, the crew was working extra hours. “We worked two Saturdays to address hazards, and then went back to a normal schedule,” he said. The crew continues to remove fallen trees and identify hazards, such as leaning limbs that are hidden in the tree canopy.
Asked about the cost of cleanup for all the summer storms, Shafer said he is currently putting together numbers to brief the city manager and council, but did not yet have them done.
The owners of Parke Crescent Apartments did not respond to a request for comment for this article.