Torrential rain hits Washington landmarks

More than a foot of rain has washed out highways around the US capital, toppled a 100-year-old elm tree on the White House lawn and caused flooding that closed major government departments and the National Archives, where the Declaration of Independence is kept.

Motorists were stranded during the morning rush hour yesterday, trains were halted and emergency crews used boats to rescue dozens of people marooned by high water.

Many government employees were told to stay home and tourists found that some of the major landmarks that had drawn them to Washington were closed.

“I just wanted to hear about stuff about America that I haven’t heard in my history books,” a disappointed Loria Hawn, 10, of North Carolina, said outside the locked National Museum of American History.

The National Archives – where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution are safe under glass – was shut down because the moat surrounding the building on Pennsylvania Avenue had flooded, spokeswoman Susan Cooper said. All records and national treasures were “safe and dry”, she said.

The archives will remain closed today, just days before the July 4 weekend.

Flooding also closed Internal Revenue Service headquarters, the Commerce Department and the Justice Department, but the federal government as a whole remained in business.

The National Gallery of Art shut down because of a weather-related steam cut. The gallery uses steam to maintain the proper environment to preserve its priceless collections, a museum spokeswoman said. But the artworks were reported to be in no danger.

The tree that fell on the White House front lawn blocked a road, but visitors were not affected since no tours had been scheduled yesterday, the National Park Service said.

More than seven inches of rain fell in 24 hours in the city at the National Arboretum on Sunday and yesterday, with up to 14 inches in parts of Delaware and 12 inches at Federalsburg, Maryland, on the Eastern Shore.

:: More than a dozen lightning-caused wildfires are burning tens of thousands of acres of northern Nevada, closing Interstate 80 for a second day, forcing evacuations in some rural areas – and even claiming most of the training grounds at a state fire academy.

Firefighters feared another round of lightning-packed thunderstorms early today would add to their work, which already stretched from the heavily timbered western front of the Sierra Nevada near Reno to the sage- and grass-filled rangeland in Elko, Nevada, 300 miles east.