Flooding in Leominster prompts dozens of rescues, mayor says "it's a miracle" no one died
LEOMINSTER – The mayor of Leominster said it's "a miracle" no one was killed as catastrophic flooding left significant damage throughout the city Monday night.
Mayor Dean Mazzarella said about 11 inches of rain fell in less than five hours. Residents in low-lying areas near Barrett Park Pond Dam are being asked to evacuate.
Related: Town-by-town rain totals
Mazzarella said dozens of people were rescued using boats and hovercrafts. He said only minor injuries have been reported.
"It's a miracle that we haven't had any fatalities," he said. "We rescued so many people last night we don't even have a total count."
Classes were canceled for Tuesday and Wednesday in the city after several school buildings suffered damage. Others that were not damaged are being used as shelters.
The biggest area of concern was Barrett Pond.
"This particular dam is one that we're about to replace. It's very sensitive, it's water saturated, and we're worried about that downstream," Mazzarella said.
Evacuation orders near the dam were lifted Tuesday afternoon.
Several roads are closed, including the Route 13 bridge that normally is used by 26,000 cars per day. The Commuter Rail is closed from Wachusett to Shirley.
Route 2 was impassable overnight. It has since reopened, but there have been heavy traffic delays.
In some areas, the flood waters pushed homes off their foundations.
Dozens of cars were washed off roads by rising waters, including some from Baker Cadillac on Main Street. Mazzarella said "dozens if not hundreds" of cars needed to be towed overnight.
Many homes throughout the city have several feet of water in their basements.
In one case, Mazzarella said a full trash dumpster was found on a walking trail. Officials have no idea where it came from, because it was pushed at least half a mile by the raging river waters.
"My backyard and the front of my house was all grass. Now, I have no grass! It disappeared," said Ego Cesbedes, who lives on Hamilton Street.
Liz Knutson was waist-deep in water, trying to get to her place of business to salvage her photography equipment. She said the force of the water almost pushed her under a car.
"It was overwhelming, for sure," she said.
"You could definitely hear the gushing of the water opening up. If you had a raft you probably could've rafted down this street," said Leominster resident Ericca Richards, who watched the storm from her second-floor apartment. "I have never seen anything like it."
"This is not just a typical storm that we bring the street sweepers out and everything will be cleaned in a couple days," Mazzarella said. "We're going to be at this for quite a while before we can get everything back to normal."
Leominster residents spent Tuesday pumping out gallons of water from their homes.
The city is also monitoring Wednesday's forecast as more rain is possible.
"At this point I think we're as prepared as prepared can be," Mazzarella said. "I don't know how much more rain we can handle, but whatever comes we can't control that."
Governor Maura Healey toured Leominster on Tuesday afternoon and declared a state of emergency hours later.
"I'm grateful to the first responders," Healey said. "My heart goes out to the residents, and we will do everything we can to help them."
