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WASHINGTON, July 8-- Torrential rains and flash floods on Monday hammered the Washington D.C. region, stranding thousands of drivers and commuters, causing extensive power outages, and soaking train and metro stations as well as numerous basements. People fled to the roofs of their cars, Virginia Square metro station got a waterfall situation, the U.S. National Archives was shut down, and the White House basement was soaked. National Weather Service meteorologist Cody Ledbetter said the storm dumped about 6.3 inches (about 17 cm) of rain near Frederick, Maryland, about 4.5 inches near Arlington, Virginia, and about 3.4 inches at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in a two-hour period. The service declared a flash flood emergency across the area. In Washington D.C., water gushed into the press workspace in the basement near the White House's West Wing, and staff worked to drain puddles of standing water with wet vacs. Flooding led to electrical outages that closed the National Archives Museum, according to a statement from the National Archives. Many streets and sidewalks flooded and pedestrians had to leap over flows of water at curbs in the U.S. capital. The D.C. authorities said they responded to more than a dozen calls about motorists stranded in high-water areas across the city. Several people were rescued from cars stuck on flooded roads near South Capitol Street. No injuries were reported in the capital city, and no one was taken to a hospital, according to Vito Maggiolo, a spokesman for D.C. Fire. | 
