The water surged fast, outpacing local emergency response efforts and trapping nearly 200 students and staff inside Westernport Elementary School in Maryland’s Allegany County. Outside, Georges Creek had already breached its banks, flooding nearby homes and streets, while rain continued to pound the mountain town.

Emergency officials scrambled to assemble rescue teams from neighboring counties, and Montgomery, Frederick and Howard County departments dispatched specialized crews.

By the time each one of the stranded students was pulled out by rescue boats, the first floor of the school was underwater. In Virginia, one child died after being swept away by raging floodwaters.

Maryland officials confirmed this week that no lives were lost in the May 13 floods, but the episode has left residents and climate advocates with questions. Why wasn’t the school dismissed earlier, given the National Weather Service had issued a flash flood warning ahead of the creek breach? And what will be different the next time a similar storm strikes?

“We were prepared, but not for how fast the water came,” Judy Hamilton, mayor of the town of Westernport, told Inside Climate News in a phone interview. “It was almost flooding when the flood warning was issued. There was very little time [to act].” Hamilton said she left a voice message on Gov. Wes Moore’s phone the day the flooding struck the city. Moore called back “that very night, offering assistance,” she added.

On May 15, Moore declared a state of emergency for Allegany and Garrett counties after surveying the damage during a visit to Allegany County. The move activated state emergency operations and opened the door for potential federal assistance once damage assessments were done.

The storm that struck Western Maryland was fed by an atmospheric river moving across the Southeast, which experts describe as a conveyor belt of concentrated moisture that dumped more than six inches of rain in less than 24 hours. The sheer amount of rainfall overwhelmed the mountainous watershed of Georges Creek. Controlled releases from Savage River and Jennings Randolph dams, both nearing spillway capacity, added to the surge.

In a news release announcing the emergency declaration, the Moore administration confirmed damage to a number of structures and utility impacts, including gas line washouts.

“Transportation routes have experienced washouts and slides, and the Town of Lonaconing’s water services have been suspended as a result of a roadway washout and pipe damage,” the statement reads.

Brent Walls, the Upper Potomac Riverkeeper, said the flooding event was “completely uncharacteristic” of the region—but not unimaginable. “You had dam releases from Savage River and Jennings Randolph converging with intense local rain. Georges Creek had nowhere to go. It all met at Westernport,” he told Inside Climate News.

Walls, who has monitored the region for 16 years, said he had never seen such flooding in Georges Creek before, but knew that a similar flood hit the area in September 1996. “We know what steep terrain and flash storms can do,” Walls said, adding that there’s no infrastructure on Georges Creek to slow that water down. “Climate change is making this kind of thing more frequent, even in areas that aren’t used to getting hit,” he said.

In a written response, the Maryland Department of Emergency Management stated that local jurisdictions did receive early warnings from the National Weather Service and acted within their means.

“There is no way to forecast a Flash Flood Emergency in advance because it’s not a forecast—it’s a real-time declaration, and within minutes of the flooding, we activated the state’s Emergency Operations Center to support local efforts,” said MDEM spokesperson Jorge Castillo. He added that the department coordinated swiftwater rescue deployments from neighboring counties and “resources were expedited and sent as quickly as possible.”

When asked why rescue teams weren’t pre-positioned for a rapid response, Castillo said “the State of Maryland does not typically pre-deploy resources based on such watches or warnings alone,” and added that the department coordinates deployment in response to requests from local jurisdictions once a warning or emergency occurs.

“Climate change is making this kind of thing more frequent, even in areas that aren’t used to getting hit.”

While the MDEM coordinated the deployment of additional swiftwater rescue teams from neighboring counties, some advocates raised the question whether Allegany County had sufficient personnel and resources to handle the crisis.

In August 2024, Allegany County faced a $2 million budget shortfall that led to widespread cost-cutting measures, including reductions in emergency medical services staffing. At the time, the union representing local fire and EMS workers criticized the cuts, warning the move could compromise public safety during critical events. The county administration moved forward nonetheless, leading to reductions in coverage hours and staff availability in rural and outlying areas.

Allegany County Administrator Jason Bennett, whose office oversaw the budget decisions, did not respond to multiple phone calls and emails requesting comment on the floods.

Ann Bristow, a Garrett County resident and advocate, experienced the flooding firsthand. “We got six to eight inches of rain in 18 hours,” she said, describing it as the worst flooding they had experienced since moving there in 1987. “Our bridge was underwater. People couldn’t get home from work. Kids couldn’t get home from school. The only road in or out was gone.”

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Maryland Department of the Environment Secretary Serena McIlwain offered a candid assessment in the wake of the historic flooding. “Drinking water systems were damaged, homes were flooded, and families were impacted. We acted quickly to offer emergency help for contaminated home heating oil tanks, and support safe debris removal,” she said in a statement. “Our focus now is on long-term recovery and guiding infrastructure repairs.”

In separate emailed comments, the MDE confirmed that the flooding overwhelmed stormwater and sewer systems in several parts of Western Maryland. Jay Apperson, an MDE spokesman, said that the scale of rainfall “exceeded the design capacity of many stormwater and sewer systems” in many communities. “The scale of infrastructure investment required is significant,” he stated.

The incident has also shone light on Maryland’s climate resilience strategy. In a recent interview with Inside Climate News, Michael Hinson, Maryland’s first chief resilience officer, said that a statewide resilience strategy was due by the end of 2025 or early 2026 and that there is no project-level implementation underway yet.

Moore’s office said the governor met with Mayor Hamilton in Western Maryland last Thursday and that its “team has been in close communication with her and other county officials throughout this whole disaster.” A representative for the office said the state’s climate resilience strategy, once finalized, “will establish statewide resilience goals and recommendations and provide 2, 5, and 10 year goals,” focusing on vulnerable communities and underserved populations.

Despite the severity of last week’s flooding, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has not been directly involved in the response or recovery efforts. Federal assistance is typically triggered by a formal disaster declaration, initiated by the state’s governor and approved by the President. As of now, Moore has not initiated the assistance protocol and no such federal disaster declaration has been issued for the affected areas in Maryland.

FEMA did not respond to requests for comment regarding its support for disaster-prone communities like those impacted by the recent torrential rains in Western Maryland.

For now, the focus remains on cleanup and recovery. Mayor Hamilton said she was glad that no one died. “I think the fact that there were no lives lost with the amount of flooding we had tells you this town was very resilient,” she said. “Some of our basements have mud that is six to eight feet deep in them. We have residents without gas utilities. Our residents lost their furnaces, their hot water tanks, and most of the individuals do not have flood insurance, so it’s going to cause a great financial impact on the citizens in the town of Westernport.”

As Western Maryland residents work to recover from one devastating flood, another storm system is approaching the region. According to a forecast from the National Weather Service, the system will bring heavy rain and wind gusts, raising concerns about additional flooding in already affected areas. Local officials have urged the public to stay alert and monitor official channels for potential emergency updates.

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