Growing up we used River Road a lot. We used it to go to the pool. I later went to a school on River Road, so the spent a lot of time there. One of my first jobs out of college had me traveling along River. And now my church is there.
Growing up, I couldn't figure out why it was called River Road, there were creeks and stuff along the way, but nothing I would call a river. You couldn't see the River from it, the way you can from parts of MacArthur. My mother told me it was because the road followed the river.
And yesterday, they broke into my morning television to show the road had become, well, river-like. A water main break occurred in a hillier section and created what one fireman referred to as the equivalent of class three rapids. Fortunately the incident occurred right near the fire station - and apparently one truck was headed up River at the time - so the rescue personnel was able to get going immediately to rescue nine people who were trapped in their cars.
WJLA had their news helicopter filming so there is footage of the helicopter and boat the personnel employed to assist.
It was fairly amazing to watch.
DCist has the link to some of the footage. And the WaPo has the story also.
