Flash Flood in Massachusetts, June 13, 1996

Thunderstorms with torrential downpours produced a flash flood, which resulted in the worst flooding in 100 years of records on the Sawmill River. All but one access road into the town of Leverett was washed out. The Spaulding Brook experienced its worst flooding in recent memory. A site survey was conducted by the National Weather Service on June 14th. More than 30 miles of roadway in southern Montague and Leverett were destroyed. Numerous homes and businesses experienced some degree of flood damage. The most significant damage was in Leverett along the confluence of the Spaulding Brook and Sawmill Creek, where a two-lane bridge, approximately 200 feet long, was destroyed, leaving a 50-foot canyon in its place. This event has been estimated as at least a 100-year event for southern Montague and a 500-year event for the Sawmill River and Spaulding Brook. The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency has estimated damage from this flood at close to $2 million. Local residents who have lived in the area for many years said this was the worst flooding they had witnessed since the Great New England Hurricane of 1938. A few thought that it exceeded even that historical flood event.