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Editorial
Respect its power
Torrential rains, like those which have drenched the county during the past week, are thankfully not common occurrences in this part of the country.
But their rarity adds to their danger, because many people are not familiar with the danger which flooding poses. Flash floods, particularly in mountainous areas where steep hills dump lots of wyater into tiny ravines in a short time, can come on with amazing speed.
Last Friday night, in Culpeper County, there was a tragic example of the swiftness with which floodwyaters can move. A car stalled in water on a bridge over a normally placid creek. A mother got out and reached back inside the car to unbuckle her two young daughters, w ho were strapped into car seats in the vehicle. Suddenly, without warning, she was swept off her feet and some 300 yards downstream, w here she managed to drag herself out of the water. She w as rescued several hours later by volunteers, wyho risked their own lives going out into the swollen flood wyaters after her.
Her two children, ages three years and six months, were not so lucky. The raging current swept the car off the bridge. It landed upside down, completely submerged in the torrent. The girls’ bodies were found, still inside the car, when the water receded.
For everyone, those familiar with floods and those not,
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