Evacuated Residents Eager to Return Home

Prince William County officials said residents of Marumsco can now walk to their homes after they were evacuated because of flooding last night, but residents of Holly Acres will have to wait for details about their heavily damaged neighborhood.

Homes in the Marumsco mobile home park generally received less damage than Holly Acres. Officials said no vehicles are being allowed into the neighborhood, but that residents can walk back to their homes. There is no electricity or water service in the neighborhood.

Out of most of the evacuees at the Woodbridge Senior High School shelter, Antonio Ochoa was one of the lucky ones.

He and his family, residents of Marumsco Hills, were able to drive to the shelter Thursday night. Ochoa was able to check on damage at his home Friday and said that his home was saved from major flooding.

Ochoa has lived in Woodbridge since 1998 and he said he had never seen flooding like this in his life.

“Here, everything is great and we have been taken care of,” said Ochoa of the Red Cross shelter.

Ochoa said he was moving large pieces of debris from the creek as he could in Marumsco Hills but he did as much as he could.

A sinkhole had opened on the access road to the homes, and county engineers were working on a solution to allow vehicle access. 

But the situation in Holly Acres is much more dire. Officials said 75 to 85 percent of the homes are so heavily damaged they may have to be condemned. Inspectors are going house to house in Holly Acres to determine which homes are salvageable and which cannot be occupied again. There is no electricity or water service in Holly Acres.

More than 200 people were evacuated late last night as heavy rains hit the area and flooding spread. Officials said 17 people stayed behind with their homes last night.

About half of the residents spent the night at a shelter set up at , and officials said the shelter will remain open for residents for several more days as needed.

At the shelter Friday morning, children played video games in the school cafeteria and played with a therapy dog. The children seemed to be in good spirits, while adults were concerned about the state of their homes and belongings. People were still arriving with wet clothes on, and volunteers were helping them find dry clothes and get a hot meal.

Police officials said they feared some people were not using the shelter because they were afraid of the police presence, and they reminded residents that the shelter is open to serve all residents regardless of immigration status. Officials said they were only concerned with the well-being of people who need shelter from the flood and rain.

Officials did not provide an indication of when vehicles might be able to return to Marumsco, nor could they provide an estimate of when utilities might be restored.