Already saturated communities in New England are facing continued heavy rains with additional flooding today and the prospect of even more bad weather from Hurricane Lee over the coming weekend.
The National Weather Service said the region will see another round of slow-moving downpours and embedded thunderstorms from west to east today. One to two inches of rain are forecast, although up to four inches are possible in some places including Massachusetts, where communities are still recovering from severe flooding caused by heavy rains on Monday.
The new front will worsen existing flooding and possibly trigger new areas of flooding, the NWS warned.
Although it is still early, forecasters are concerned that winds and flooding from Hurricane Lee could affect Rhode Island, eastern Massachusetts, southeastern New Hampshire and central and coastal Maine during the weekend.
For today, the NWS issued flash flood warnings for western and central Massachusetts and northern Connecticut including Hartford, along with flood watches and warnings for the eastern parts of the Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire.
In addition, portions of southeast New York, including Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan Queens, Westchester and east central New York including Dutchess and Ulster counties are under flood watch as are portions of southern New Jersey.
Massachusetts City
The central Massachusetts city of Leominster has been hit particularly hard this week, with Monday’s slow-moving rainstorm parking itself over the city for five hours, according to Mayor Dean Mazzarella. The city declared a state of emergency as homes, roads, businesses and cars were inundated. The city closed all schools and set up shelters in two schools.
Firefighters used inflatable rafts to rescue residents of a mobile home park.
Some residents living near a dam had to be evacuated but they were allowed to return last night after the dam had been fortified.
New England has experienced several serious flooding events this summer, including in Vermont where a storm that dumped up to two months of rain in two days took two lives.
Atmospheric scientists say floods occurring in different parts of the world are fueled by climate change, with storms forming in a warmer atmosphere, making extreme rainfall more frequent, the Associated. Press reports. The additional warming scientists predict is coming will only make it worse.
Hurricane Lee
The region has been told to brace for even more bad weather along with dangerous rip tides in coming days. The National Weather Service reported that Hurricane Lee will pass west of Bermuda Thursday and Thursday night and then approach the coast of New England or Atlantic Canada Friday and Saturday. The storm has winds near 115 mph with higher gusts.
Lee is currently a category 3 hurricane. It is expected to slowly weaken during the next few days; however, the weather agency warns that “Lee is likely to remain a large and dangerous hurricane into the weekend.”
Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Flood Hurricane Massachusetts
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