 As flood waters overtook much of New England, emergency crews used
boats to save people who were trapped with and on the roofs of their
homes. Sewage systems throughout the area overflowed on Monday as New
England was pummeled by rain for the fourth straight day. The storm
could well prove to be the worst to swamp the area since the 1930s.
North of Boston, in and around Merrimack Valley on the New Hampshire
border, the Merrimack and Spicket rivers left their banks forcing the
evacuation of hundreds of people in the area. Additionally, millions
of gallons of sewage spilled into the Merrimack River when the sewage
system in Haverhill failed allowing. Millions of gallons of sewage
also poured out of the water treatment plant in Lawrence when flooding
knocked the plant off line on Sunday. Massachusetts Governor Mitt
Romney told residents of the state that the situation would get worse
before it improved. Massachusetts U.S. Senator John Kerry said it was
the worst flooding that he had seen in his twenty-two years in the
Senate. Emergency crews took to their boats urging people to evacuate
the flood ravaged area. Forcasters believe that the flooding rivers
will rise past the sixty foot level by Monday, which is eight feet
above the flood stage. Meanwhile in New Hampshire over 600 roads were
damaged or destroyed because of the flooding. Governor John Lynch of
New Hampshire indicated that the yard in front of the executive
mansion had become a pond. In southern Maine, residents were forced to
evacuate from homes near the Mousam River as fast rising flood waters
threatened people living in that area. Firefighters took to boats in
that part of Maine to make certain that propane tanks were shut off.
State officials in Maine indicated that their major concern was damage
to a couple of dams along the Salmon Falls River in Lebanon. President
George W. Bush and the First Lady arrived at the Bush family summer
home in Kennebunkport, Maine, over the weekend. The presidential
retreat was unaffected by the storm, according to Bush's chief of
staff, Jean Becker. |
