Thursday, 4:30 PM
No major flooding as high tide recedes
By John R. Ellement, Kathy McCabe, and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff
There have been no reports of major flooding this afternoon as tides have begun to recede after a violent spring storm dumped up to 3 inches of rain and battered the region with near hurricane-force wind gusts.
"Right now, it looks like we may have dodged a bullet," said Peter Judge, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. "We are not getting any reports of sea walls that were breached or other major damage."
The tide crested at about 11 a.m. and was near an astronomical high for the year because of Tuesday's new moon, when gravity pulls the sea further onto land, especially in the spring. There were scattered reports of flooding, downed trees, and power outages in communities along the coast or near inland streams.
In Leominster, officials evacuated several homes because of poor drainage. Some roads in Salisbury were under 3 to 4 feet of water and much of the beach eroded, but it was not as bad as officials had feared.
"The storm lagged back and didn't reach us" as early as first forecast, said Robert Cook, the town's emergency management director. "We did not have as much damage as expected."
In Winthrop, the storm surge left behind rocks as large as basketballs on sidewalks and highways. The tide has receded from much of Winthrop Shore Drive, but waves continued to crash onto land near the aptly named Neptune Avenue, close to the Revere town line.
Tom Larity, 51, and his daughter, Denise Larity, 20, walked down the hill from their Cottage Avenue home to watch the sea roil after the ferocious storm.
"I haven't seen it this bad in a long time," Larity said.
They stared as the gray waves crashed over the breakwall.
"We are the smart ones," Denise Larity said. "We live on a hill."
The storm delivered a powerful wallop across New England, snapping trees and knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses, officials said today.
Warren, Vt., recorded 17 inches of snow. In New Hampshire, a landslide forced the closure of part of the state's major east-west route, Route 101, and the governor activated 100 National Guards members. As snow and rain swept across Maine, Governor John Baldacci signed an emergency declaration to speed repairs by allowing crews from other areas to travel to Maine.
Early Monday, wind gusts of 48 miles per hour were reported in Portland, Maine, 47 mph in Laconia, N.H., and 46 mph in Concord, N.H. A gust of 67 mph was reported on the Isles of Shoals, offshore along the Maine-New Hampshire border.
Material from the Associated Press is included in this report.
