Homes, dreams drown in NE floods

April 1, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

WEST WARWICK, R.I.

Flooding on a scale rarely seen in New England forced hundreds of people from their homes Wednesday, washed out bridges and highways from Maine to Connecticut and overwhelmed sewage systems so that families were asked to stop flushing toilets.

Hardest hit by three days of record-breaking rain was Rhode Island, where the worst flooding in 200 years could persist for several more days and permanently close businesses already struggling in the weak economy.

“I think we’re all done,” said Angelo Padula Jr., a West Warwick town councilman whose family owns a 100-year-old auto- restoration shop. The shop and 260 cars stood in 10 feet of water from the Pawtuxet River.

Padula said officials told him they believe his shop and about 40 surrounding businesses would have to be condemned, as will several blocks of nearby homes.

“We were wiped right out,” said Padula, whose 86-year-old father was hospitalized after having a heart attack during Tuesday night’s flooding.

The rain subsided to a drizzle Wednesday, then finally stopped, and the floodwaters began to recede. But authorities across New England warned that much of the water could linger for days. The latest flooding was far worse than an inundation earlier this month in the same areas.

Stonington, Conn., a coastal town on the Rhode Island border, was largely cut off as two of its three bridges went out. A bridge also gave out in Freetown, Mass., isolating about 1,000 residents. In Coventry, R.I., a two-lane bridge threatened to collapse after its abutments washed out.

A stretch of Interstate 95, the main route linking Boston to New York, was closed in Rhode Island and could remain so at least through today. Amtrak suspended some trains in the area because of water over the tracks.

In Rhode Island, rescues continued for a third day along the Pawtuxet River, which flooded several blocks past its banks in many spots. The river crested Wednesday morning at 20.79 feet, nearly 6 feet over the previous record — set only two weeks ago — and almost 12 feet above its ordinary level of 9 feet.

The river is expected to return to its banks by Saturday, officials said.

An aerial tour of the state taken by The Associated Press revealed the sweep of the damage.

Water flowed like a torrent around the Warwick Mall, with rapids approaching the front doors of a Macy’s and an Old Navy store and putting a movie theater under water. Cars were submerged up to their roofs. Oil slicks floated on top of muddy water through neighborhoods.

The heavy rain is the latest setback to Rhode Island, which has struggled for months with an unemployment rate nearing 13 percent — about 3 percentage points higher than the national average. Some of the areas worst hit were business districts, including the area around the Warwick Mall, one of the state’s major shopping areas.