Scenes from a sodden day

About a mile away, at Old Burlington Road in Bedford, Yuki Wong monitored the sump pump at the house she bought just last week.

"I came here this morning to do some painting and touch-ups, but now I'm much more concerned about the flooding,'' she said, standing in her empty living room.

Wong stepped downstairs, onto small puddles on the concrete floor, to survey the scene and point out the sump pump.

"It's been running constantly since last night," she said. "There's another one over there, but the old owners didn't tell us that it doesn't work."

Standing outside, Wong warily eyed a wide pool of rainwater that flooded her street and was creeping up her lawn.

"This makes me very nervous,'' she said. "I just hope the rain stops before it moves closer to the house."

-- Brian Ballou, Globe Staff

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For roofers, the rain has been a boon.

Bill Connell, owner of Connell Roofing in Needham, said he can’t recall more calls from a rainstorm since he began working as a roofer in 1975.

“The phone just keeps on ringing,” he said. “We’re getting about five to six times the calls, we usually get. Every time I go out, there’s another dozen messages.”

He added that many of the homeowners he has made estimates for to repair their roofs are now calling to see when he can start.

“A lot of people had leaks they weren’t aware of before,” he said.

He said he received between 50 and 75 calls over the weekend. On an average weekend, he said. he gets about four calls.

“Our crews are working hard right now,” he said.

Area residents, meanwhile, are flocking to hardware stores, desperately seeking tools to bail out flooded basements. But more and more are leaving empty-handed.

The Home Depot in the South Bay shopping center sold out of wet vacuums, as did all other stores in the district, an employee there said. The item is now on back order, and it's unclear when more will be brought in.

Water pumps of all sizes also flew off the shelves, the employee said.

-- David Abel, Globe Staff, and Stefanie Geisler, Globe Correspondent

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PEABODY – Along Foster Street in this North Shore town's downtown, water was well above the hubcaps of the parked cars..

The city today has closed portions of 21 streets after 6 inches of rain fell in the city in 24 hours and hardest hit was downtown. Portions of Main Street, Lowell Street, and Walnut Street were closed to traffic. Some city streets were flooded with up to 3 or 4 feet of water.

“We got a lot of rain in a short period of time,” said Chris Tighe, the city's emergency management director. “When you get six inches of rain, where is it going to go?”

Tighe said there have been no evacuations. “We’re lucky no one got hurt,” he said.

The street closings forced Peabody District Court to close today, Tighe said.

Downtown streets are expected to be shut down at least until tonight.

Tighe urged motorists not to drive down streets blocked by orange cones. A BMW had to be towed from the downtown after getting stuck in several feet of water. "The car was stuck," Tighe said. "People should pay attention to the cones."

Peabody firefighters were busy pumping out basements around the city. "If people need help, they shouldn't panic," Tighe said. "They should call the fire or police."

Tighe said this event was the biggest rainstorm to hit Peabody since the Mother’s Day flood of 2006.

-- Kathy McCabe, Globe Staff

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QUINCY -- Multiple roads were closed to traffic, including Ballou Street, where several residents were using hoses to pump water out of their homes and several cars were partially or half submerged.

One resident, Jeff Martinous, whose driveway is on Ballou Street, said his Jeep was half submerged in his driveway, and he was pumping 2 feet of water out of his basement.

“We had a flood about five years ago, but it wasn’t as bad as this,” Martinous said. “This is the worst.”

Another resident, Bill Ryan, was in his driveway adjusting the hose pumping water out of his house. His car wasn’t submerged, but it was backed up to the end of driveway.

“I keep moving it,” he said. He has experienced flooding since about 10:30 a.m. Sunday, he said.

-- Travis Andersen, Globe Staff

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BILLERICA -- Pat Flemming, looked out over her flooded backyard on Boston Road declared, "this is the Shawsheen River."

The river, under normal conditions, is about a quarter mile away. Two other homes closer to the river were totally surrounded by water, and emergency crews had to rescue at least one resident by boat earlier yesterday when she became trapped inside her home.

About a foot of rainwater filled Flemming's entire backyard, out of which she runs a dog kennel. The water pressed up against her house, and about 3 inches spilled into her basement. The rain even streamed around the sides of her residence to gush into her front driveway.

"The pump is holding it at bay downstairs, so we're hoping that it will keep doing that until the river rescinds. All I can do is hope that there isn't that much property damage."

-- Brian Ballou, Globe Staff