Mostly Coastal Roads Flooded

By Sue Ellen Woodcock

Unlike neighboring communities, Revere faired well during Saturday’s torrential rain, an eye-popping 3.5 inches of rain in one hour.

“We experienced significant heavy rain, causing city wide street flooding,” said Mayor Brian Arrigo.

A power outage was also reported by National Grid in the Overlook Ridge area due to the rain. The outage effected 547 customers for over two hours.

“The state weather bureau did send us a warning that we were getting this rain,” said DPW director John Goodwin. A cell of torrential rains passed over Lynn, Revere, Winthrop, East Boston and other parts of the North Shore.

Goodwin said while there was some street flooding the all over Revere, it was the coastal areas of Precinct 1, 2 and 5 that got hit the hardest. Parts of North Shore Road flooded, as did parts of Broadway, the Parkway. He added that the hilly areas were a concern because of run-off.

“There was such a volume of rain,” he said, adding that the pumps on Bennington Street worked great and clear catch basins were the key to good drainage.

“It wasn’t too bad for us,” Goodwin said, adding that crews pumped out a couple of yards and no basements. “Just localized street flooding.”

Orient Heights section of East Boston experienced flooding on Bennington Street. The Bayswater Street area near the waterfront also flooded.

In Winthrop, streets and parks  in the town center became 3 to 4 foot deep ponds, swallowing up a couple of cars. The Michael’s Mall area on Putnam Street had two cars floating away. Many homes and businesses in the area ended up with flooded basements.