Water Main Break Floods Street in Washington, D.C. Suburb

BETHESDA, Md., Dec. 23, 2008— -- An ordinary commute turned into a daring rescue as a massive water main break flooded a busy street in a Washington, D.C., suburb.

Ten cars were trapped as a treacherous wall of cold water carrying rocks and debris roared toward them at 135 million gallons per minute down the hilly River Road in Bethesda, Md.

Fire department and emergency rescue workers responded within minutes of the break, but the current was so strong that they could not approach the stranded commuters by foot. Instead, rescue workers had to use helicopters and boats to save those who were trapped.

Rescuers in helicopters hauled trapped commuters to safety in baskets as the waters raced below and desperate passengers pleaded for help.

911 calls captured the desperation of passengers waiting for help.

"I can't see anything," yelled one woman. "I need help."

It was not an easy rescue.

"We train for river rescues every day, and we train for flood rescues on the road but we never expected to find something like we found today with the amount of water coming down River Road with multiple cars stuck," said Capt. Frank Doyle of Montgomery County Fire and Rescue.

"[I] never saw anything like this," he said. "When we heard the first reports of a mountain of water coming down River Road, your first inclination is, that's crazy, that could never happen. When we arrived on scene, we were met with that challenge."

As if the situation were not dangerous enough, the cold and windy weather made rescue operations even more complicated.

Police had difficultly getting baskets down to the victims from helicopters, which also had to dodge trees and wires, Doyle said.

One of the rescuers, 32-year-old firefighter Lt. Pat Mitchell, struggled to reach victims in a boat as the currents raged on, but after a few tense moments, he was able to rescue them and pull them to shore.

"[A] current like that can kill instantly," Mitchell said. "This is a unique, once-in-a-lifetime type of call. ... I'm glad everything was successful and nobody was hurt."

No injuries were reported, although several people were taken to the hospital to get treated for hypothermia.