Thursday, 4:30 PM
Lowell neighborhoods still rebuilding from last May face flood waters again
By John Ellement and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff, and Amanda Bergeron Globe Correspondent
LOWELL -- Crews desperately piled sandbags this afternoon on top of an earthen levy to try to stop the Beaver Brook from spilling into the same neighborhoods that were flooded with more than 2 feet of water last spring.
Many homes in the low-lying neighborhoods of Pawtucketville and Centralville still bear the high-water marks from last May, when the flood inundated ground floors and rose higher than door knobs. The neighborhoods are separated by Beaver Brook, a tributary to the nearby Merrimack River, which is swollen from heavy rains and is already 6 feet over flood stage.
"People in this neighborhood are terrified," said Lisa Bordeleau, who came to help her elderly parents who live on Lafayette Street in Pawtucketville, where several basements are underwater. "This entire neighborhood was flooded last year. They had just begun returning to normalcy."
The Merrimack is expected to crest late this afternoon at 58 feet, which would be 8 inches below the high-water mark last spring.
"Believe it or not, that less than 1-foot difference could spare us a lot of significant flooding," said Captain William Taylor of the Lowell Police Department.
Mayor William F. Martin has declared a state of emergency, and about 12 to 15 streets have been closed by flood waters.
"It really spiked up in the early morning hours, but we really feel good in comparison to where we were last year," said Bernard Lynch, the Lowell city manager.
While basements flooded, including some where renovations were recently completed after last spring, the water has only spilled into the first floor of a few homes on Newyork Street. Lynch said that flooding has been mitigated in part by a valve the city installed that stopped the Merrimack from backing up into Lowell's sewer system.
In Pawtucketville today, city work crews also added 40-feet in length onto a levy along Beaver Brook and piled 2 feet of fill on sections of the dike that breached last spring. "We are keeping our fingers crossed," Lynch said.
The city has not instituted mandatory evacuations, but the Lowell Senior Center has opened as a shelter. The University of Massachusetts at Lowell canceled day and evening classes because of flooding.
Peter Judge, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, said officials were also monitoring flooding in Dracut, Chelmsford, and other towns along the Merrimack.
"At this point, we are not aware of any major issues like we saw last May," Judge said.
Officials anticipate that flooding may be limited because only a 1/2 inch of rain is forecast for today, and temperatures are cold enough in Vermont and New Hampshire that much of the snow pack should remain frozen.
Officials in coastal communities are also monitoring high tides today at noon and midnight, which would be the astronomical highest tide of the year because of tonight's new moon. The winds are expected to pick up offshore this afternoon and could whip up swells on beaches and seawalls that have already been hammered by several days of crushing waves.
"It's not the first punch that knocked you down," said Judge, referring to the cumulative impact of the tides. "It's often the fourth or the fifth."
Flooding hit New Hampshire much harder as Governor John Lynch declared a state of emergency and dispatched 200 National Guard members to the worst-hit communities of Hampton, Rochester, Farmington, and Greenville. A mudslide blocked Route 101, the state's main east-west route between Nashua and Keene. About 5,000 people were evacuated from 13 communities and more than 400 state and local roads were closed due to flood damage.
Public Service of New Hampshire, the state's largest utility, reported this morning that 15,000 customers remained without power, down from a peak of 43,000 outages on Monday.
Rain totals ranged from 6.02 inches in Epping, 5.7 inches in Exeter, 5.1 in North Conway, and 3.49 in Manchester.
On Monday night, the Lamprey River flooded Verizon's central switching station in Raymond, submerging equipment, a spokesman said. Firefighters were trying to pump out the building.
Verizon customers handled by that office lost phone service and there was no estimate on when it would be restored. Other exchanges that had limited service as a result of the flooding were Deerfield, Epping, Northwood, and Candia.
The Piscataquog River again broke over its banks and rose as high as first-floor windows. It swept through yards, floated Dumpsters, and bent aluminum fences. City offices and 10 roads were closed in Goffstown, a scene similar to other communities in the state.
In Massachusetts, the storm dumped 3 to 5 inches of rain, with heavier amounts west of Interstate 495. Logan International Airport recorded 2.35 inches of rain, and wind gusts there topped 52 miles per hour. The windiest spot in the region was at the Blue Hill Observatory in Milton, with a gust of 72 miles per hour recorded at 5 a.m.
In Dracut, business owners along the Merrimack nervously watched as the water crept up the bank.
"If it continues going up, we will be in trouble," said Andy Chung, owner of Lin Garden Restaurant. "It's supposed to come up another 5 feet."
Linda Lemieux said she was up at 2 a.m. with her husband to move generators and other equipment out of their business, Lemieux Small Engine and Marine Repair, trying to get valuables out of the rising river's reach.
Material from the Associated Press was included in this report.
