Flooding in Rhode Island, April 1 to 12, 2010

Six to nine inches of rain fell across Providence County, resulting in rises on both the Blackstone River at Woonsocket and the Pawtuxet River at Cranston. The Blackstone rose to moderate flood and the Pawtuxet rose to nearly 21 feet, surpassing the previous flood of record set only two weeks prior of nearly 15 feet. The Woonasquatucket, Runnins, and Ten Mile Rivers also flooded.

Several small streams rose above flood stage across Providence County, including the Woonasquatucket River at Centerdale and the Branch River near North Smithfield.

Numerous streets and basements were flooded across all of Providence County, including Cranston, North Smithfield, Johnston, Scituate, East Providence, North Providence, Providence, Pawtucket, and Cumberland. Several were undermined and eroding away, including the major east/west route through Cumberland, Nate Whipple Highway (Route 120) and Old Sayles Hill Road in North Smithfield. The portion of Old Sayles Hill Road that eroded leads to a dead end, stranding residents at the end. Flooding over the railroad tracks between Providence and Attleboro, MA resulted in the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority cancelling commuter rail service to Providence.

About 45 people were evacuated from the Riveredge Village apartment complex in the Manton neighborhood of Providence. Roughly 120 homes were evacuated in the Valley View neighborhood in Cranston. A four building condo complex on Fordson Avenue was also evacuated. About 300 people total were evacuated from their homes in Cranston. In Cumberland, all 193 apartments in the Ashton Mill complex and 200 residents of an assisted living facility (One Mendon Road) were evacuated. A house on Dexter Lane in Scituate was flooded, trapping an elderly resident. Houses near the intersection of Warren and Waterman Avenues in East Providence were evacuated. Tenants from lower level units of an apartment building on Exchange Court in Pawtuxet were asked to evacuate due to flooding. A car on Valley Street in Providence was stuck in flood waters, leaving the driver stranded. Two homes on Tuxedo Street in Providence were looted while their owners were kept away for safety reasons.

The Woonasquatucket River rose in Providence inundating two major parks and the Eagle Square shopping center, including an Eye and Audiology Clinic for the VA Hospital. It also flooded a bridge that takes Valley Street over the river and forced the evacuation of houses and some apartment complexes in nearby neighborhoods, incluing Olneyville and Manton. The animal shelter in Cumberland was evacuated to the animal shelter in nearby Lincoln.

One of Cumberland's largest employers, Hope Global, was damaged by the flooding. Employees were able to safeguard much of the equipment at the company by raising it off the floor several feet but 30,000 square feet worth of offices and furniture were ruined. Damage estimates for Hope Global thus far have totaled around $400,000.

In Woonsocket, flooding caused a national computer system failure at CVS that affected prescription services in all 7,000 of its pharmacies. Stores were able to fill prescriptions but were unable to process insurance claims. This resulted in some delays in filling the prescriptions.

In North Providence, a dam was breached, emptying Geneva Pond into West River. A nearby bridge that carries Douglas Avenue over West River sustained damage to its abutments and was closed.

The Cranston wastewater treatment plant failed during the flooding, untreated sewage into the Pocasset River at a rate of 8 million gallons per day.

In Johnston, the Pocasset Bridge on Route 14 (Plainfield Street) that spans the Pocasset River was closed after it started to show four large cracks. Several items that had floated down the river were caught under the bridge, blocking the water flow. City Hall experienced some flooding as well, prompting employees to shut down the computer system.

Damage amounts can be found in the March Storm Data when most of the damage occurred. Rivers and small streams remained in flood into April.

Eight to ten inches of rain fell across Kent County causing record rises on the Pawtuxet River at Cranston, cresting at nearly 21 feet, roughly 6 feet higher than the previous record set only two weeks prior. The Pawtuxet River flows into Kent County and resultant flooding occurred in Warwick, West Warwick, and Coventry. The South Branch of the Pawtuxet River also went into flood, setting a record at just over nine feet.

Numerous basements were flooded in East Greenwich, Warwick, West Warwick, and Coventry. In addition, numerous streets were closed due to flooding in Coventry, East Greenwich, and West Warwick, including portions of Jefferson Boulevard, and Routes 2 and 5, all major secondary roads in Warwick. A pond at the Royal Crest Estates apartment complex in Warwick flooded, submerging at least one car. Numerous buildings flooded in Warwick. One of Coventry's fire stations was badly damaged by floodwaters that they hope to repair within six months.

Evacuations were ordered for many residents, including those on River and Providence Streets in West Warwick and those in the area of the Villa del Rio and Greenwich Village apartments in Warwick. Each of those complexes have hundreds of units housing mainly elderly or disabled persons. Approximately 2500 homes and businesses were evacuated in Warwick. Three to four hundred houses (roughly 1000 people) were evacuated in West Warwick, with all of the Natick and some areas of the Clyde neighborhoods inundated with floodwaters. So many houses in Natick were flooded that electricity to the neighborhood was cut off for safety reasons. Many of the homes evacuated, particularly those nearest to the Pawtuxet River, were deemed uninhabitable by inspectors from FEMA.

Evacuations were ordered in Coventry downstream of the Laurel Avenue Bridge over the Pawtuxet River after the bridge was severely eroded and in danger of collapsing along with the adjacent dam. A 50 foot portion of the side of the Concordia building that sits along the river near the dam collapsed. This compounded the concerns about the Laurel Avenue Bridge and adjacent dam. The bridge held through the flooding, though was seriously compromised and has been closed since the end of March while a new bridge is built or repairs can be made to the current bridge.

The Pawtuxet River first came out of its banks at a service plaza off Interstate 95 at Jefferson Boulevard (exit 15), flooding the parking lot with two feet of water. A 500 foot section of I-95 between Route 37 and Route 113 that normally carries between 160,000 to 180,000 cars per day was closed Tuesday evening, March 30th, after being inundated with water from the Pawtuxet. This section was closed for nearly 48 hours cutting the main route through Rhode Island in half and snarling traffic throughout the Providence metro area. This was compounded by flooding on the Airport Connector, the main road between I-95 and Rhode Island's primary airport, T.F. Green, which leads off the flooded section of I-95. Both of these roads were closed in both directions. T.F. Green airport remained open and fully operational throughout the flooding, though portable toilets were brought in due to the problems at the Warwick sewage treatment plant. Emergency workers, Department of Transportation workers, and National Guardsmen worked for several days to keep water off Interstate 295, the primary alternative to I-95.

The river flooded the Warwick Mall, submerging cars in the parking lot and sending up to four feet of water in spots and at least two feet of water into the stores on the lower level. Firefighters had to rescue a trapped security guard at the height of the flooding. This closed all 70 stores in the million square foot mall. The first store in the Warwick Mall to reopen, Sports Authority, did so nearly seven weeks after the flood. It was on the second floor and did not flood but was concerned about air quality in the mall. Other anchor stores in the mall plan to reopen in July (Target), October (JC Penny), and December (Macy's). A CVS at the corner of Providence and Wakefield Streets in West Warwick was damaged by the flooding resulting in that store temporarily closing. Up to 150 businesses in Warwick were also closed by the flooding, including the Rhode Island Blood Center.

In addition to the flooding from the Pawtuxet River and its tributaries, many local ponds and lakes flooded, inundating nearby streets and neighborhoods with water.

Both sewage treatment plants in Warwick and West Warwick were flooded and closed for a time during which residents were asked to only flush when necessary and to restrict water use. The Warwick plant was inundated with 78 million gallons of polluted water that had to be removed before wastewater treatment could resume. The mayor of Warwick issued an executive order shutting down the city's coin-operated laundries and asking health clubs to stop offering free showers to residents.

Damage amounts can be found in the March Storm Data when most of the damage occurred. Rivers and small streams remained in flood into April.

Five to ten inches of rain fell across Washington County, resulting in rises on the Pawcatuck River at Westerly and at Wood River Junction. The Pawcatuck River set a record of nearly fifteen and a half feet at Westerly and just over eleven feet at Wood River Junction.

The Pawcatuck River overflowed its banks in Charlestown, closing Route 91 and Shannock Road. Numerous basements were flooded in South Kingstown, Narragansett, and Charlestown. Numerous roads were flooded in Exeter, Charlestown, Hopkinton, Narragansett, South Kingstown, and North Kingstown, including the intersection of Route 2 and Mail Road and washing away a portion of Route 102 in Exeter. A section of the Blue Pond Dam in Hopkinton washed away, flooding the area and washing out a portion of Route 3. Water flowed so ferociously through the Saugatucket River near the Palisades Mill complex in South Kingstown that windows were broken out of the mill and water flowed into the building, resulting in substantial damage. Lower levels of an office building in the Peace Dale section of South Kingstown were flooded.

Sixteen homes on Summit Road in Exeter were isolated after a portion of the road washed out. Several drivers in Narragansett and Exeter had to be rescued from their cars after they drove into water three to four feet deep. One family in the Peace Dale section of South Kingstown had to be rescued by boat from their home. Four to six homes in the Green Hill section had to be evacuated as well.

A bridge on Route 138 spanning the Chipuxet River in South Kingstown partially collapsed closing Route 138 between Route 2 and Ministerial Road. A second bridge on Route 138 spanning the Usquepaug River in Richmond was closed nearly eight weeks after the flooding after an underwater inspection of the bridge revealed it was damaged by the flooding at the end of March. The bridge is between Routes 2 and 112. It reopened about one week after it was closed. A privately owned dam at Glen Rock Reservoir in West Kingston was partially breached, however, the area downstream of the dam is wetlands so no structures were affected.

Damage to structures at the University of Rhode Island in South Kingstown amounted to $1.85 million. The basements of all 22 buildings on campus flooded as well as classrooms and offices. Other facilities at the school were closed because of flooding damage to equipment. In addition, Route 138 was flooded cutting off access to the University of Rhode Island from Interstate 95.

A mudslide washed onto two of the three rail tracks (one passenger, one freight) that run through North Kingstown near Routes 403 and 4, disrupting rail service through Rhode Island. A few residents in the area were asked to evacuate.

Chapman Pond and Newton's Marsh flooded and along with flooding from the Pawcatuck River cut off an entire neighborhood from goods and services for at least a week. Residents were encouraged to evacuate after electricity was cut off for safety reasons for nearly a week. However, 20 of the 36 families stayed in their homes to protect them from the rising water. Nearly 10,000 residents of Westerly were impacted by the flooding and power outages that occurred, some of them have not been allowed back in their homes over a month later. The Broad Street Bridge was closed for safety reasons, blocking the main route in and out of Westerly from Connecticut. Several portions of Route 91, a main east-west artery, were flooded and closed. This wreaked havoc with bus schedules and daily commutes. Pawcatuck River flooding in Westerly left some homes flooded up to their roof lines.

Basements, yards, and fields flooded on Block Island. Oil contamination from a home whose foundation collapsed and spilled heating oil, resulted in the temporary closure of shellfishing from HogPen Channel to Trim's Pond and Harbor Pond. Georgian Swamp off Corn Neck Road flooded a private lane cutting off access to two homes.

A single, indirect injury occurred when an unidentified man cut his foot while walking through his flooded basement barefoot.

Damage amounts can be found in the March Storm Data when most of the damage occurred. Rivers and small streams remained in flood well into April.