Mild storm's heavy rain fuels wrecks, tree collapses, isolated power outages in Bethesda (Photo)

A mild storm, with heavy and relentless rain, wreaked more havoc than it seemed capable of yesterday across Bethesda. Very little wind, and no thunder and lightning accompanied the storm, which nonetheless caused trouble up and down the eastern seaboard through late last night. In Bethesda, several fender benders and at least one more serious wreck kept public safety employees busy throughout the evening.

One auto accident on Old Georgetown Road led to the southbound lanes being closed between 6 and 7 PM last night near Suburban Hospital. Traffic backed up for a mile leading into downtown Bethesda. Traffic signal outages in the northbound lanes near Tilden Middle School created an equally-bad backup in that direction, slowing firefighters attempting to reach the accident scene, as southbound drivers had nowhere to move.

The solid northbound jam meant emergency vehicles could not enter the oncoming lanes to get around the jam, either, showing how serious the impact of the county's worsening traffic congestion could be for emergency response times. It's a real problem, and our current elected officials are only making traffic worse, rather than executing their duty to provide a functional road system.

This tree fell on a home on
Walhonding Road in Bethesda

Close to midnight, a tree fell on a house in the 6300 block of Walhonding Road in Bethesda, trapping 2 residents in the basement of the home. No one was injured, but the family was displaced according to Montgomery County Fire and Rescue spokesperson Pete Piringer. The Red Cross is assisting the 2 residents and their dog in finding temporary shelter.

A late power outage in the Parkside area near Grosvenor put less than 20 customers in the dark. Pepco was estimating those customers' power would be restored by 6:00 PM tonight.

Photo courtesy Pete Piringer, MCFRS