15 minutes to pack, move

Betty Watton, who has lived in Building 49 at Melrose Towers since 1974, experienced a series of firsts last Sunday as days of record rainfall began a rapid flood surge around her home.

A loud knock on her door from the Melrose fire chief didn't startle her as much as his orders that she, along with all the other residents, had to evacuate the building. Then came her first real scare since living at the Towers.

''Looking down from the sixth-floor window, that we were literally an island was scary," said Watton, a petite woman who gets around with the help of a cane decorated with colorful flowers.

Last Sunday evening, Watton, along with the other 154 mostly elderly residents of the Towers, received surprise visits from various Melrose officials, including the mayor and the fire chief, telling them they had about 15 minutes to gather clothes and medications and evacuate their buildings.

As a precaution, city officials had decided to shut off the electricity at the Towers, a three-building complex on Melrose Street. The flood waters were high enough that emergency crews used motor boats to transport residents from their homes to waiting vans.

Then another first for Watton: Fire Chief John O'Brien offered to give her a piggyback ride down the stairs. She declined, but said, ''Then we got our first cruise -- to the bus."

Watton was one of 304 Melrose residents evacuated from their homes last week, most to two area hotels, including the Days Inn in Saugus, which Watton called home for several days. The small lobby at the Days Inn last week was busy with Melrose residents, generally in good spirits and chatting about their experiences.

It was Mayor Robert Dolan's decision to take the evacuees to hotels and not simply give them cots in a makeshift shelter in the high school gymnasium. That their evacuation shelter was a hotel was not lost on Watton or any of the Days Inn's newest guests, most of whom found it easy to find humor in their situation.

Dolan said putting the residents in hotels will cost the city less than if they had been put up at the high school, since both the Days Inn and Hampton Inn in Danvers offered him rooms for just $49 a night. By comparison, just one police detail covering a shelter at the high school would have cost the city $45 an hour.

Other than worrying about spoiled food in the refrigerator and possible damage to things she had stored in the basement, Watton joked that her biggest concern was the loss of the porterhouse steak she was making for supper the day of the evacuations. Also, she managed to pack only ''two and a half pairs of socks."

''We're grateful we're here instead of in some high school auditorium," Watton said. ''We're getting to know people from our complex. I got the life history of many people. What good came out of it? You see the goodness of people, putting themselves out and helping one another."

Jacqui Fiorenza, a resident of Building 51, said she was also startled by knocks on her door last week by members of the Fire Department, but she didn't think the situation was so bad that she had to leave.

''I said to them, 'Do we have to go? I'm cooking dinner. I'm making a cranberry bread,' " Fiorenza said as she lounged in the Days Inn lobby Tuesday evening. ''He told me, 'Turn off the stove.' "

James Browne, who evacuated Building 51 with his wife, Pat, said everyone involved -- from the hotel staff to city officials -- had been in constant communication with the evacuees, making them feel at ease. With care from the hotel staff and food from the Salvation Army, Browne said, ''we're being treated like royalty. The city officials handled it well."

Minor McLain, who has lived in Building 53 for 14 years, said being an evacuee in a hotel ''is the lap of luxury."

Rod Eddy, who has lived in the Towers for seven years with his wife, Eileen, said their worries, such as spoiled food, ''are nothing major. If that's the worst that happens, then we're in good shape."

Melrose Alderman at Large Ronald E. Seaboyer, who has been a fixture at the Days Inn, said residents with flood damage should call the city's emergency management center at 781-979-4111 to document all of their damage in order to apply for reimbursement.

He said that what impressed him were residents' attitudes toward each other.

''People were going from door to door, putting the elderly in their own cars, sharing pumps," Seaboyer said. ''That's what Melrose is."

Katheleen Conti can be reached at kconti@globe.com