JOPPA, Md. — The sign says it offers sheds, gazebos, playsets and more, and on Thursday, the Amish Shed Outlet on Route 40 got more rain than it could have possibly bargained for.
“It was just pounding,” said Rebecca Lamarr, “The thunder, the lightning and you could not see. We could barely see 40 sitting in here the rain was coming down so hard and so fast.”
As first responders converged in front of the business, Lamarr and another employee, Jeff Fonzi, ran upstairs to get a better vantage point of the rising floodwaters.
Harford County residents reflect on severe flooding
“I’ve never seen it that high before,” said Fonzi, “It has flooded there in the past, but that’s the highest I’ve ever seen it.”
That’s when they spotted a woman stranded on top of her partially submerged car.
“Her car was in so the hood and it was coming up the door and it was going in her car so she had no choice, but to get on top of her car. She couldn’t go anywhere else,” Lamarr told us, “cause she didn’t know how deep the ditch was. It wasn’t safe for her to… She made a good decision. She made a really good decision staying on the top of her car and waiting.”
It’s a point supported by facts shared by the National Weather Service.
It only takes six inches of fast-moving water to up end an adult and just a foot of it to carry away most cars.
They say on the road’s surface as much as two feet of water collected, but it got even deeper in the ditch.
Some suggesting it might have been three to four feet deep.
The same conditions, which caught the driver off guard made it difficult to get to her.
“We could be wrong, but it seemed like 45 minutes, but it just seemed like an awful long time that she was just sitting there waiting to get through and the traffic was just massive,” recalled Lamarr.
The victim’s patience paid off when rescue personnel were able to wade through the waters, equip her with a life preserver and lead her to safety.
“She did what she needed to do,” said Fonzi, “Everyone else did what they needed to do and it all worked out well so I give the emergency workers praise. They did a great job… and so did the young lady.”
