Parents, first responders wade through floodwater to reach students during Maryland emergency flash flooding

Trapped students, unit rescued from flooded schools successful Western Maryland

Allegany County, Maryland Administrator Jason Bennett joins FOX Weather to speech astir the flooding exigency that prompted evacuations of 3 country schools. More than 200 students and teachers were safely evacuated by archetypal responders from Western Maryland. Bennett said the flooding became a occupation quickly, wrong an hour. 

WESTERNPORT, Md. – Family members waded done waist-deep floodwater to scope their children successful Western Maryland connected Tuesday aft torrential rainfall rapidly inundated 3 schools successful Allegany County, prompting exigency rescues.

A Flash Flood Emergency was declared adjacent Westernport, Maryland when storms dropped up to 5 inches of rainfall wrong hours.

Allegany County Administrator Jason Bennett said the country is known arsenic the "Mountainside of Maryland" due to the fact that it’s surrounded by mountains. All that h2o flows downhill, and by Tuesday afternoon, "we began to person existent problems," Bennett told FOX Weather.

Photos amusement cars floating successful the parking batch of an Allegany County District school. 

"This 1 perfectly came up connected america precise quickly," Bennett said.

Georges Creek Elementary and Westernport Elementary students were evacuated by vessel arsenic the h2o began to participate buildings. Students and unit sheltered successful spot astatine Westmar Middle School and Mountain Ridge High School.

WESTERNPORT, MD - MAY 13: Show is an aerial photograph of the flooded downtown country connected May 13, 2025 successful Westernport, MD. 

(Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post / Getty Images)

First responders from Western Maryland, including aggregate unpaid occurrence departments and swift-water rescue teams, headed to the scene,  rescuing 150 students and 50 unit from Westernport Elementary. 

WHAT FLOOD WATCHES, FLOOD WARNINGS AND FLASH FLOOD EMERGENCIES MEAN

Some families took things into their ain hands, wading done the rising h2o to scope their children and assistance rescue others. 

A photograph shared by the Maryland State Fire Marshal's Office shows a antheral carrying a miss connected his shoulders with h2o up to his chest. Officials said helium was a bully Samaritan, not with a occurrence department. 

Allegany County Public School officials said 12 students stayed implicit overnight astatine Mountain Ridge High School until their families could prime them up connected Wednesday morning. 

Parents, teachers picture flooding rescues astatine Maryland simple school

FOX News Multimedia Journalist Chelsea Torres reports from Westernport, Maryland wherever simple schoolhouse students and unit were rescued during a flash flood exigency connected Tuesday, May 13, 2025. Local officials accidental this was the worst flooding lawsuit for the Western Maryland assemblage successful 30 years. 

"We went from having parking tons that were bare to being filled with h2o wrong a 30-to-40-minute timeframe. That's wherefore we had a mates of the schools that benignant of got stuck the mode they were," Bennett said. "So it was a precise hard time, a batch of h2o to woody with and a batch of harm and a lotta cleanup for america to woody with today."

Photos shared by the Kitzmiller and Bloomdale unpaid occurrence departments amusement boats carrying students distant from the schoolhouse and the playground submerged successful water. 

Potomac Fire Co. No. 2 Public Information Officer Jonathan Dayton estimated that astir 200 homes and buildings were flooded successful Allegany County. 

County officials said nary 1 was reported injured oregon missing during the lawsuit successful Western Maryland. 

Tragically, the aforesaid storms caused flooding successful West Virginia and Virginia, where a 12-year-old lad was swept distant by floodwaters. His assemblage was recovered connected Wednesday.