Flood — Kent, Rhode Island

2010-03-29 to 2010-03-31 · near Lakewood, Kent, Rhode Island

Event narrative

Eight to ten inches of rain fell across Kent County causing record rises on the Pawtuxet River at Cranston, cresting at nearly 21 feet, roughly 6 feet higher than the previous record set only two weeks prior. The Pawtuxet River flows into Kent County and resultant flooding occurred in Warwick, West Warwick, and Coventry. The South Branch of the Pawtuxet River also went into flood, setting a record at just over nine feet.

Numerous basements were flooded in East Greenwich, Warwick, West Warwick, and Coventry. In addition, numerous streets were closed due to flooding in Coventry, East Greenwich, and West Warwick, including portions of Jefferson Boulevard, and Routes 2 and 5, all major secondary roads in Warwick. A pond at the Royal Crest Estates apartment complex in Warwick flooded, submerging at least one car. Numerous buildings flooded in Warwick. One of Coventry's fire stations was badly damaged by floodwaters that they hope to repair within six months.

Evacuations were ordered for many residents, including those on River and Providence Streets in West Warwick and those in the area of the Villa del Rio and Greenwich Village apartments in Warwick. Each of those complexes have hundreds of units housing mainly elderly or disabled persons. Approximately 2500 homes and businesses were evacuated in Warwick. Three to four hundred houses (roughly 1000 people) were evacuated in West Warwick, with all of the Natick and some areas of the Clyde neighborhoods inundated with floodwaters. So many houses in Natick were flooded that electricity to the neighborhood was cut off for safety reasons. Many of the homes evacuated, particularly those nearest to the Pawtuxet River, were deemed uninhabitable by inspectors from FEMA.

Evacuations were ordered in Coventry downstream of the Laurel Avenue Bridge over the Pawtuxet River after the bridge was severely eroded and in danger of collapsing along with the adjacent dam. A 50 foot portion of the side of the Concordia building that sits along the river near the dam collapsed. This compounded the concerns about the Laurel Avenue Bridge and adjacent dam. The bridge held through the flooding, though was seriously compromised and has been closed since the end of March while a new bridge is built or repairs can be made to the current bridge.

The Pawtuxet River first came out of its banks at a service plaza off Interstate 95 at Jefferson Boulevard (exit 15), flooding the parking lot with two feet of water. A 500 foot section of I-95 between Route 37 and Route 113 that normally carries between 160,000 to 180,000 cars per day was closed Tuesday evening, March 30th, after being inundated with water from the Pawtuxet. This section was closed for nearly 48 hours cutting the main route through Rhode Island in half and snarling traffic throughout the Providence metro area. This was compounded by flooding on the Airport Connector, the main road between I-95 and Rhode Island's primary airport, T.F. Green, which leads off the flooded section of I-95. Both of these roads were closed in both directions. T.F. Green airport remained open and fully operational throughout the flooding, though portable toilets were brought in due to the problems at the Warwick sewage treatment plant. Emergency workers, Department of Transportation workers, and National Guardsmen worked for several days to keep water off Interstate 295, the primary alternative to I-95.

The river flooded the Warwick Mall, submerging cars in the parking lot and sending up to four feet of water in spots and at least two feet of water into the stores on the lower level. Firefighters had to rescue a trapped security guard at the height of the flooding. This closed all 70 stores in the million square foot mall. The first store in the Warwick Mall to reopen, Sports Authority, did so nearly seven weeks after the flood. It was on the second floor and did not flood but was concerned about air quality in the mall. Other anchor stores in the mall plan to reopen in July (Target), October (JC Penny), and December (Macy's). A CVS at the corner of Providence and Wakefield Streets in West Warwick was damaged by the flooding resulting in that store temporarily closing. Up to 150 businesses in Warwick were also closed by the flooding, including the Rhode Island Blood Center.

In addition to the flooding from the Pawtuxet River and its tributaries, many local ponds and lakes flooded, inundating nearby streets and neighborhoods with water.

Both sewage treatment plants in Warwick and West Warwick were flooded and closed for a time during which residents were asked to only flush when necessary and to restrict water use. The Warwick plant was inundated with 78 million gallons of polluted water that had to be removed before wastewater treatment could resume. The mayor of Warwick issued an executive order shutting down the city's coin-operated laundries and asking health clubs to stop offering free showers to residents.

Wider weather episode

A low pressure system sat just south of Long Island for two days, bringing heavy rain to much of Southern New England during that time. A persistent southerly low level jet brought very moist air into the area, which resulted in high rainfall rates. A coastal front along the I-95 corridor enhanced rainfall in that area. This event followed a heavy rainfall and record flooding event in mid-March as well as a second lesser rain event about a week prior. Rivers across much of Massachusetts and Rhode Island were still high from those events and warm temperatures in northern Vermont and New Hampshire resulted in a period of snowmelt, that resulted in rises on both the mainstem Connecticut and Merrimack Rivers. All of these factors led to a second record rainfall and flooding event.

Two day rainfall totals across Southern New England ranged from an inch to ten inches. Though concentrated in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts, all of Southern New England was affected by the flooding. In hardest hit Rhode Island, two day rainfall totals ranged from five to ten inches. Providence, Boston, and Blue Hill Observatory in Milton, MA set record monthly precipitation totals during the month of March. Providence also set the record for the wettest month ever in the period of record. Both the Pawtuxet River in Rhode Island and the Sudbury River in Massachusetts set floods of record.

River and areal flooding resulted in millions of dollars of damage across Rhode Island, with numerous homes, businesses, and people affected. A portion of Interstate 95, the main highway through Rhode Island, was closed for two days after the Pawtuxet River inundated the highway with up to three feet of water. Amtrak service through the state was suspended for several days because portions of the tracks were under up to two feet of water in several locations across the state. Passengers were rerouted through Springfield, Massachusetts. Though all 39 cities and towns in Rhode Island were affected, the most damage was seen in Warwick, West Warwick, Coventry, and Cranston, where the Pawtuxet and Pocasset Rivers flow through. Four dams in Rhode Island were breached and many others were overtopped and close to breaching, which resulted in the inspection of 42 dams throughout the state. Officials estimated that more than 500 people were evacuated from their homes because of rising water or the threat of rising water. More than 500 Rhode Island National Guardsmen were activated during the flooding, filling sandbags, directing traffic, and aiding in evacuations. Six National Grid substations were flooded and four were close to flooded, disrupting electrical service in Westerly and Warwick. One of the amphibious vehicles generally used on the Boston Duck Tours was lent to the state of Rhode Island to transport utility workers to and from these substations and switching terminals. Shellfishing grounds in the southern part of the state were closed temporarily over concerns of sewage and other contaminants in the water. They reopened about a week and a half later. Half a dozen sewage treatment plants through the state were overwhelmed or compromised by the flooding, leading to raw sewage being discharged into area rivers and bays. The Governor's office estimated that tens of thousands of properties were impacted by the flooding and about 4,000 workers were affected when the businesses they worked in were closed during and after the flooding. Numerous schools and many businesses, as well as the state government were closed for at least a day because of the flooding. President Obama issued a federal disaster declaration for the entire state of Rhode Island and residents received an automatic extension for filing their state and federal income taxes. The disaster declaration encompassed both the mid-March storm and this storm.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (41.7638, -71.3899)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 220230. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.