-
May 14, 2006 8:52 pm US/Eastern
-
Digg |
Facebook |
E-mail
|
Print
States Of Emergency Issued; All Eyes On Rivers
BOSTON (CBS4) ―
Massachusetts and New Hampshire are under states of emergency. Several towns on the North Shore have issued emergencies of their own, with many roads shutdown, and voluntary evacuations underway.
A flood warning is now in effect for much of eastern and central Massachusetts. The only exceptions are Cape Cod and interior southeastern portions of the Bay State.
Flood warnings have also been issued for parts of southern New Hampshire, northern Rhode Island and Maine.
There is a dangerous flood situation in parts of northeastern Massachusetts and central and costal parts of New Hampshire and York County, Maine.
Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has issued a state of emergency for the Bay State. One-hundred National Guard soldiers were mobilized per request of Mitt Romney on Sunday. The Massachusetts guards are currently helping with transportation missions in Peabody and Methuen.
Flood warnings have also been issued for several of the area's rivers, including the Spicket River in Lawrence and Methuen, Shawsheen River in Wilmington, Sudbury River, Nashua River and Souhegan River.
The National Weather Service has issued a flood warning for the Assabet River, the Blackstone River, the Charles River, the Concord River, the Connecticut River, the Merrimack River, the Neponset River, the North Nashua River, the Pawtuxet River and the Squannacook River.
Peter Judge of the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency says they will be watching local rivers closely through the day. He is urging everybody to keep an eye on their basements, warning that basement flooding could continue up to 24 hours after the heavy rains.
MEMA fully activated the State Emergency Operations Center in Framingham Saturday morning. Regional Operations Centers in Tewksbury, Bridgewater and Belchertown have also been activated.
The heavy rain has also caused concern about the state's dams, but according to Gov. Romney, the high-hazard dams are not in the areas with water dangers, and other dams that are close to involved areas have had corrective action taken to reduce the water levels behind the dam.
In Peabody, 17 downtown roads are shut down because they are flooded. Local businesses placed sandbags at their doors, hoping to save their property from damage.
The district court in Peabody will be closed on Monday as part of an effort to keep people away from the city's square. School in that city is also cancelled.
Roads in many other communities are closed down due to flooding, including several low-lying roads in Lawrence and Methuen.
Haverhill has cancelled school for Monday and is asking residents in the town's low-lying areas to voluntarily evacuate themselves by 10 pm Sunday night.
Georgetown, Amesbury and Manchester-By-The-Sea have also cancelled school for Monday due to the weather.
Saugus and Newburyport have issued their own state of emergencies.
Boston's Logan Airport is reporting a two-hour delay for their flights. Those who are planning to travel should call ahead for more information.
Flooding in the Callahan Tunnel toward East Boston has forced officials to divert traffic through Logan Airport.
The Coast Guard is assisting officials with flooded areas in Gloucester on Sunday. Over 1,000 sandbags have been filled to help prevent flooding at the Milton L. Fuller Elementary School, which is being used as an evacuation area for residents.
Romney is urging drivers to watch the roadways and be careful of standing water and hydroplaning. He is encouraging people to take public transportation to work on Monday to help reduce the risk of accidents.
The rain from Sunday morning and afternoon will slowly lift into southern New Hampshire, but we are not out of the woods just yet. There is another batch of rain over the Atlantic that is expected to make its way over the already affected areas of New England and dump between 2-4 inches of rain.
The only hope we have of avoiding this system is if it moves up further north and hits areas of New England that have not experienced any rain.
A flooding hotline has been set up for those affected by this weekend's rain fall. They are asked to call 1.800.293.4031.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)