Heavy Flooding in Mass and NH

[marapets]

i hope everyone is safe your in my thoughts and prayers

[Surlygirl]

It is good to live up on a hill. Even though I live in the Blackstone Valley I'm up the hill. Maybe climbing this hill home on my bike isn't such a bad thing. The Blackstone River is about to overflow its banks a mile from me. Its not as high as it was this past fall when they closed all the bridges from Worcester to Providence over the Blackstone. Dare I whisper it looks like a break on Wednesday. Sshhhhhh.

[Crankin]

I am now glad I live on a hill. Things are not as bad here in the NW suburbs, but still, I have never seen so much rain! The river about 2 miles from my house is up over the banks, but not causing any horrible damage like in Denise's area. There was a small wettish spot in the corner of my basement, where my family room is, but we pulled up the carpet last night and it is now dry. We have a shed that is a miniature version of the house (very mini) where we keep our bikes (it used to be a garden shed, i think). Yesterday, my husband swept out 4 inches of water. All of the bikes were hanging except mine, so he cleaned it and put it up. I went to the gym!
Definitely no riding here. Tomorrow I am supposed to lead a beginner ride at 6 PM, but I am not sure if it will be a go. It's not raining now, but there are predicted t-storms for late afternoon.

[wavedancer]

Things are not so bad on the Cape. We've had some downpours and steady rain, but nothing like what is happening on the North Shore. And living on a sandbar, it drains away pretty well. There were some high winds and heavy seas yesterday, but I haven't heard of any major erosion.

And this afternoon the sun actually came out!!! I hopped on my bike for a quick ride on the canal, turning around when I felt the first raindrops again. Got home just before another shower.

The folks north of Boston and near the rivers are not faring so well, however. I too keep them in my thoughts and prayers.

[DeniseGoldberg]

In spite of the outrageous amount of water that fell in my town I'm very lucky - my house is dry. I was watching the news tonight though, and seeing pictures of the Merrimac River out of its banks. I rode along that river on my 2-day trip to Maine and back just over a week ago. What a difference. One of the towns I rode through on that trip was Salisbury, which according to the National Weather Service set a new Massachusetts record.

"APPARENTLY A NEW STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS MONTHLY RAINFALL RECORD WAS ESTABLISHED WITH THIS UNIQUE EARLY WARM SEASON 3 DAY RAIN EVENT. THE 13.36 INCHES OF RAIN REPORTED BY OUR SALISBURY CO-OPERATIVE OBSERVER WHICH RAISED THE MONTHLY TOTAL AT SALISBURY TO 18.82 INCHES WHICH IS WELL ABOVE THE PREVIOUSLY KNOWN MAY STATE RECORD OF 15.6 INCHES SET IN 1984." Quote courtesy of the eastern region of the National Weather Service, http://www.erh.noaa.gov/box/.

Amazing.

--- Denise

[Lise]

Wishing you guys speedy drying, and safe passage through this rainy, rainy season. L.