Torrential rain has triggered flooding and power outages throughout the Washington region, shutting down some federal offices and disrupting transport links to the United States capital on Monday.
Commuters faced long delays around Washington after rain pounded the east coast overnight, with local television showing images of mudslides blocking roads and tunnels and forcing some drivers to abandon their cars.
After a weekend of thunderstorms, the national weather service said a flood watch remained in effect and forecast that more rain was expected to fall this week ”on parts of the already saturated east coast”.
The US Department of Justice, the Internal Revenue Service, the National Archives and two Smithsonian museums were shut down on Monday morning due to flooding and power outages, government websites and local media reported.
The storm also knocked down a large tree in front of the White House.
The train service to Washington faced major delays and some lines to towns south of the capital remained cancelled late on Monday morning, the national rail service Amtrak said in a statement.
Flooding forced the Metro underground network to close two stations, the Archives-Navy Memorial and the Federal Triangle, in downtown Washington, with commuters taking buses to reach their destinations.
Thousands of homes were without electricity throughout the region and flooding had washed out key roads in the state of Maryland, with authorities evacuating some threatened areas along the state’s eastern shore. — AFP
