A Maryland school requiredevacuation by rescue boatsand a child was missing in Virginia as an unrelenting atmospheric riverpounded multiple eastern stateswith heavy rains and fueled dangerous, flash flooding. The storm, which in recent days dumped up to a foot of rain over some areas of the Southeast, moved into the Mid-Atlantic region with a vengeance Tuesday. Flooding was reported in several states, including Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. A warm front lifting along the East Coast was expected to bring thunderstorms and more rain to the region Wednesday and Thursday, the National Weather Service said. In Virginia, a search and rescue operation continued Wednesday near Charlottesville for a 12-year-old boy. Albemarle County, Fire Rescue personnel and police were dispatched for a swift water rescue after a 911 caller reported the youth was swept away as he walked down a road. Authorities said rushing water in a nearbly creek overwhelmed the area. Following more than three hours of water operations, first responders paused the search because of limited visibility in the dark "and the safety of all those involved," Fire Rescue said in asocial media post. The search was scheduled to resume Wednesday. In Maryland, the North Branch Potomac River and some tributaries burst their banks on Tuesday, forcing the evacuation of schools and businesses. Waters were receding Wednesday, and Allegany County officials conducting damage assessments said some roads had been washed out. In Westernport, officials said about 150 students and 50 adults had to be evacuated by rescue boats Tuesday from Westernport Elementary School. The floodwaters rose so quickly that kids and teachers were trapped inside as parents raced to the school to get their children. Alley Wade, the mother of two boys in the school, told KDKA-TV that when she arrived, the water was too high for her to help. She said she had an agonizing wait on dry land while rescue boats saved her kids and the other people from the fast-rising waters. "I didn't get any call from the school. I didn't know any plan. I didn't know anything. So, my instinct was get my kids," Wade said. "The first responders and the faculty of that school were phenomenal because I'm sure they were just as scared." In the Western Pennsylvania borough of Meyersdale, 35 miles north of Westernport,Mayor Shane Smith issued a state of emergencyTuesday. The Meyersdale Volunteer Fire Department issued a voluntary evacuation order for low-lying areas. "The rivers are rising at a foot-and-a-half an hour, and we need you to move to higher ground," Smith said. "We will be setting up a warming and drying shelter in the coming hours, but until then, please, please, please move to higher ground ASAP." −Beth Ann Miller and Madolin Edwards, The Daily American Floodwaters are still working down some larger streams and rivers Wednesday, the National Weather Service in Baltimore said in a social media post. "Be prepared for road closures, and turn around if you encounter high water," the post said. 'SEEK HIGHER GROUND NOW!':Atmospheric river dumps up to a foot of rain on Southeast. Atmospheric rivers are long, narrow stretches of atmospherethat transport vast amounts of water vapor − like rivers in the sky. Atmospheric rivers can vary greatly in size and strength, but the weather service says the the average atmospheric river carries an amount of water vapor roughly equivalent to the average flow of water at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Exceptionally strong atmospheric rivers can transport up to 15 times that amount of water. This atmospheric river had been hovering over the Southeast for days, trapped by a strong high pressure system, before inching its way north. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Boy, 12, swept away in floodwaters in Va.; schoolkids rescued in Md.
