Flood — Kent, Rhode Island

2010-03-14 to 2010-03-16 · near Lakewood, Kent, Rhode Island

Event narrative

The South Branch of the Pawtuxet River at Washington rose above flood stage and the main branch of the Pawtuxet River at Cranston rose into major flood, eventually setting a record crest following three to four inches of rain. The main branch of the Pawtuxet River flooded portions of Warwick and West Warwick.

Multiple streets across West Warwick, Coventry, and Warwick were closed due to flooding, including Aster, Begonia, Canna, Daisy, and River Streets in West Warwick. These streets were flooded with up to four feet of water and resulted in residents in the area being evacuated. The Natick Bridge, which carries East Avenue traffic over the Pawtucket River was closed and has since been deemed by the Rhode Island Department of Transportation as unsafe and beyond repair. Fifteen to twenty streets in Coventry were washed out or damaged.

Johnson Pond in Coventry rose out of its banks, flooding several homes and pushing docks inland. Elsewhere in Coventry, several roads were washed out by flooding brooks. News reports indicated that as many as 500 cars were submerged in flood waters in one section of West Warwick. Also in West Warwick, at least 40 business were flooded by waters from the Pawtucket River.

At least 100 people were evacuated from their homes in West Warwick.

One fatality indirectly due to the flooding occurred when an off-duty state trooper driving along Route 3 in West Greenwich hydroplaned and struck a utility pole.

Wider weather episode

A stacked low pressure system (surface low and upper level low on top of each other) moved southeast of Nantucket, spreading rain across Southern New England. This resulted in widespread rainfall totals of three to six inches. In eastern Massachusetts, a strong southeasterly low level jet pumped ample moisture into the area, resulting in rainfall totals on the order of six to ten inches. This resulted in major flooding across eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island, including small stream, urban, and poor drainage flooding. In addition, the Concord River at Lowell, the Shawsheen River at Wilimington, and the Pawtuxet River at Cranston reached record flood stages within two to four days of the rain.

Strong winds associated with the low pressure system and the low level jet affected both the east and south coasts, resulting in numerous downed trees and wires and some minor structural damage to a few buildings.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (41.7544, -71.3905)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 215807. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.