The guys in a Largo auto repair shop knew it was raining hard but say they never expected anything like this. By the time they realized the water was coming up and they tried to move cars and tools, it was too late.

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Within 30 minutes, everything was soaked.

The trucking company next door on Old Ritchie Road is in the same boat. The place is a mess.

“Sure got a lot of damage in there, got the private cars and the trucks tractors are very expensive,” said Sonny Sweeney, who works at the trucking company.

It was that way across the region. At about midday the skies opened up, dumping so much rain so fast that virtually every low spot with a history of flooding flooded.

There were dozens of road closures or lane reductions as rain fell faster than storm drains could handle. It was the definition of a flash flood. Fortunately nobody got hurt.

At least six inches fell on Ellicott City.

Prince George’s Fire Department Spokesman Mark Brady says it’s lucky no one was injured given the huge volume of calls for help his agency took.

It takes two feet to float a car six inches to knock you off your feet,” Brady said.

Now as the water recedes its victims hope the rain is ending too.