The REDHEAD takes a ferry to work every morning. Just missed making the ferry this morning. Good thing.
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The ferry apparently stalled because of a combination of high water levels and debris in the water from the recent rains. Piringer said between six and eight rescue boats entered the murky waters to take the stranded passengers to the Maryland shore. The passengers were rescued between 9 and 9:30 a.m., officials said, and the barge was guided to shore about an hour later so the cars could disembark.
No injuries were reported. Ferry operators said they hope to resume service this afternoon.
The barge, named for Confederate Gen. Jubal A. Early, made it about two-thirds of the way across the 1,000-foot stretch of the Potomac River before becoming stuck about 8 a.m., Piringer said. The underwater cable that guides it had become entangled in objects that had floated down river overnight.
"There was a full-sized tree that we pulled to the shore line, there was a large half a tree under the boat," Piringer said. "There's quite a bit of debris."
Rescue crews moved some objects in order to take pressure off the cable and stabilize the ferry "to the point where we could take the people off," Piringer said. Crews then dislodged more items and used ropes and cables to shift the boat back toward the middle of the river, until a path could be cleared for the ferry to make it to land.
Branches and other debris continue to accumulate in the brown, fast moving water, Piringer said. But ferry operators said they expected to begin moving the boat back and forth again in time for the evening commute.
Ferries have operated at this point on the Potomac -- just north of Leesburg on the Virginia side and about six miles west of Poolesville on the Maryland side -- since before the Civil War. The current operation was purchased in 1946 by Edwin Brown, who --at age 88 -- still oversees the business today.
Two years ago, Brown defied a Coast Guard order to suspend operations because of a licensing dispute. The standoff was resolved, and the barge resumed making its way back and forth across the river.
The boat travels via cable and moves as many as 600 people -- and their cars -- across the Potomac each day. The short trip between Montgomery and Loudoun counties offers a scenic and quiet alternative for crossing the river -- a far cry from such highway routes as the usually clogged Woodrow Wilson, George Washington and Memorial bridges.
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