On this date in 1953, a calendar-day and monthly record of 3.24 inches of rain fell. The deluge made the next day’s front page of The Washington Post, whose headline read, “Freak Rainstorm Floods District Areas; High Water Drives Alexandrians to Roofs.”
Alexandria was the hardest hit, according to The Post. “Basements were flooded, and sometimes first floors,” it wrote. Police staffed row boats to help evacuate residents stranded on building roofs.
The cloudburst also contained hailstones that “came banging down on rooftops,” The Post reported.
Here are other notables from this day:
- Average high: 74
- Average low: 55
- Record high: 94 (1928)
- Record low: 39 (1926)
- Record rainfall: 3.24 inches (1953)
