Almost 1,000 people are without power after the basement of a Safeway grocery store in Wheaton, Maryland, flooded Wednesday, according to officials.
Montgomery County Fire crews responded to a call to a Safeway located on 11201 Georgia Avenue at 1:30 p.m. due to massive flooding. At one point, there was 300,000 gallons of water in the basement, according to the fire department.
Fire crews pumped water out of the building and people in the building, including the apartment building above the store, were told to evacuate. Buses were brought to the scene to use as warming centers. Police were on the scene Wednesday to control traffic after the traffic lights went out.
As of Thursday morning, the apartment building was still without power as the county is under an extreme cold alert.
A Safeway worker said there was a fire at the loading dock at the back of the store, triggering the sprinkler system to go off.
“The water got backed up and it went through pipes and stuff, got backed up into a basement room and went down and flooded,” the worker said. “So the water is next to a room that got the electrical and stuff and that’s how all this got shut down.”
In a statement to News4, the Director of Communications and Public Affairs for Albertsons Companies said the flooding was due to a plumbing issue in a switch room shared by Safeway and Arrive Wheaton, the apartment building.
Pepco said Wednesday night they are still working on restoring electricity to the building. There is no timeline on repairs or if generators will be able to be installed, according to officials.
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