Flood — Bristol, Massachusetts

2010-03-29 to 2010-03-31 · near North Attleboro, Bristol, Massachusetts

Event narrative

Four to eight inches of rain fell across Bristol County resulting in several small streams rising above flood stage, including the Mill River in Taunton, the Canoe River at Norton, the Wading River at Norton, and the Segregansett River at Dighton, all of which set records.

Basements flooded in Taunton, North Attleboro, Attleboro, Norton, Mansfield, and Acushnet. Numerous streets were closed due to flooding in Taunton, Fall River, Dartmouth, Norton, Dighton, Raynham, Somerset, North Attleboro, Attleboro, Freetown, Westport, Berkley, Mansfield, Rehoboth, and Swansea, including Route 6 in Westport, Interstate 195 at Exit 3 in Swansea, Route 24 in Dartmouth, and Route 140 in Freetown (exit 8). The North Attleboro Town Hall sustained $350,000 worth of damage from flooding and Richards Memorial Library was closed for several weeks after the basement was flooded with water and sewage. A pond at Capron Park Zoo in Attleboro overflowed, threatening zoo buildings. It was able to be pumped out, keeping water out of most of the buildings. One building was flooded with two feet of water, damaging boxes of gift shop items and supplies.

Route 44 on the Taunton/Raynham line was closed for the second time in a month due to flooding from the Taunton River. An amphibious vehicle from the Boston Duck Tours was called into service to ferry residents from isolated neighborhoods to nearby supermarkets and pharmacies.

One bridge (Wheeler Street) was destroyed and three others damaged in Rehoboth when the Palmer River flooded. Portions of two of the damaged bridges (Danforth and Elm Streets) were undermined and washed away and the Summer Street bridge sustained structural damage. Two people were rescued when they fell into the Palmer River while trying to rescue their dog. They were transported to Rhode Island Hospital.

Sixteen year round residents at the Canoe River Camp Ground in Mansfield were evacuated. Three apartment buildings on Riverbank Road in Attleboro were completely surrounded by water overflowing from the Ten Mile River. The Seven Mile River in South Attleboro overflowed its banks, flooding Pitas Avenue, isolating twenty homes. Six structures in North Attleboro were evacuated because of flooding.

In hard-hit Fall River: Numerous roads were flooded, including Columbia Street and Mount Hope Avenue. Storm water overwhelmed storm drains, blowing out of the manholes with such force that it ripped up pavement, gravel, and utilities. Twenty nine homes lost power and gas service when the utilities were ripped up. Bricks from sidewalks along Columbia Street floated down Canal and Columbia Streets, collecting in piles on Broadway and Anawan Street. Doran Elementary School was flooded and the sewage treatment plant became overwhelmed with flood waters. A vehicle became stuck in floodwaters, trapping the occupants. Railroad tracks were under water at Interstate 195 and at Route 6. The southbound lanes of Route 24 were closed from President Avenue to Route 195. A 25 foot wide sinkhole developed on Jackson Street. At least 300 people were evacuated from their homes. The mayor declared a state of emergency.

In Freetown: 85 school-children were taken to a shelter after flooding made it impossible for buses to take them home. The Assonet Bay Shores neighborhood (home to about 1000 people) was cutoff to regular traffic by floodwaters and the collapse of a Narrows Road/Causeway Road bridge. Eleven students at the Crystal Springs School (a learning center for children and adults with learning disabilities) were stuck at the school for an evening after the bridge collapsed. They were able to be transported back to the main part of the city when two mountain rescue vehicles owned by the state police were dispatched. The vehicles remained in place for several days to transport residents between the neighborhood and the rest of the city. A bridge 20 yards downstream from the Forge Pond Dam crumbled, leaving a four foot gap in Forge Road. Fifteen households in Assonet Village were evacuated as Forge Pond continued to rise. Schools were closed early Tuesday, March 30 and for the day Wednesday, March 31 due to flooding.

There were three minor house fires in Mansfield that were the result of floodwaters reaching burners and electrical panels in basements.

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 → (41.9807, -71.3803)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 220247. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.