Severe storm brings flooding, high winds, leaving trail of damage through Massachusetts
BROCKTON - Severe storms swept through Massachusetts on Saturday evening, leaving damage in their wake, including flooding and downed trees and wires. The storms dropped more than 3 inches of rain on Boston, setting a record for daily rain on July 29.
Although higher rain totals were reported in north and west of Boston, the most damage seemed concentrated in southeastern Massachusetts. National Grid worked throughout the night to restore power to communities in southeastern Massachusetts after high winds toppled trees and downed wires, knocking out power in the area.. As of Sunday morning, nearly 1,000 people were still without power after the storms, with many of the outages concentrated in Plymouth County.
The Boston Public Health Commission is warning people to stay away from several bodies of water around Boston after the storms caused sewer overflows.
According to the commission, sewers overflowed at Fort Point Channel, affecting the Upper Inner Harbor; Jeffries Point, affecting waters of the Lower Inner Harbor and East Boston; and the Charles River. People are advised to avoid these bodies of water for 48 hours.
Trees and wires were reported down throughout Easton, including a tree that had fallen on a house on Poquanticut Avenue and a tree on a car on Chestnut Street.
Throughout the area, including Brockton -where a tree had fallen on an on-ramp for Route 24 North and a tree had fallen on a house - and West Bridgewater, where the Fire Department reported several downed trees and wires throughout the town.
While damage was the main concern in southeastern Massachusetts, flooding was the problem in the Boston area. Newton reported flooding on Route 9 East, with manhole covers popping up. Brookline reported flooding along Beacon Street. Dorchester requested the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to deal with flooding on I-93 North, near Exit 13 A. Wellesley, Quincy, Jamaica Plain and Boston also reported several streets flooded, some of them sustaining damage or becoming impassable. Lynn reported several vehicles were stuck in water on multiple streets.
The National Weather Service said it would be surveying storm damage in Southeastern Massachusetts to coordinate emergency efforts.
