Flood — Worcester, Massachusetts

2010-03-29 to 2010-03-31 · near Southbridge, Worcester, Massachusetts

Event narrative

Three to seven inches of rain fell across portions of Worcester County, resulting in the Blackstone River at Northbridge rising to minor flood. The Nashua River at Clinton also rose above flood stage. Several roads and basements flooded in Leominster, Fitchburg, Lancaster, Milford, Mendon, Blackstone, Northbridge, and Shrewsbury. Reduced speed limits were imposed on the rail line between Framingham and Worcester.

Clinton experienced substantial flooding two weeks prior to this event. The Nashua River at Clinton crested only four tenths of a foot lower than that event. However, because of the recent flooding, many preparations were made in advance of the rainfall. Roughly 10,000 sandbags were made and placed around Clinton with the help of the Massachusetts National Guard. This alleviated some of the damage that likely would have recurred with the three to six inches of rain that fell.

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 Massachusetts, two day rainfall totals ranged from one and a half inches on Cape Cod to nearly eight inches in Bristol County. 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. Nearly 1000 Massachusetts National Guardsmen were activated to aid in sandbagging and evacuations. President Obama issued federal disaster declarations for seven counties in Massachusetts following the mid-March flooding. After this second round of flooding, residents of the seven counties (Bristol, Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth, Suffolk, and Worcester) received an automatic extension for filing their state and federal taxes.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (42.0751, -72.0334)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 220237. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.