It was a long wet weekend in Massachusetts.
I've lost track - I think the rain started on Friday. For sure it was raining by Saturday. And raining. And raining.
It poured all day Sunday. And it poured all day Monday.
It was a holiday weekend in the Boston area with St Patrick's day events scheduled all over. The Ras na hEireann - a 5K race in Somerville, "the most genuine Irish race this side of the Atlantic", took place in the rain and the big parade in South Boston was held in the middle of the deluge.
If my trash can "rain guage" is accurate more than a foot of rain fell in the last few days.
On Sunday the calls started coming in - "the basement is flooded". "My yard has a river running through it." "Should we cancel the open house?"
I've splashed through several wet basements with buyers in the last couple of days.
For the first time the basement - a finished basement with agent and admin office space - of our sister CB office in Cambridge was flooded.
Major roads are still closed and some subway lines were diverted. Governor Deval Patrick declared a state of emergency.
When you called Home Depot the recorded message started out with "Home Depot is sold out of sump pumps".
A couple of amazing images from the St Patrick's day flooding:
A guy drove his car around barricades on a flooded street. The video clip on the news showed him, sitting behind the wheel in the middle of the water, trying to bail out his car with a plastic to-go cup.
The front page of today's Boston Globe shows a house with what looks like a river running across the lawn right in front of the steps. The owner's chubby dog is making his way across a long board - a gangplank - laid across the water.
The picture at right is a fountain was taken today. The sky was blue, the rain was over - and yet there was so much water running through the storm drain systems that this manhole cover in Arlington looked more like a fountain.
We're drying out thank goodness. And those whose basements didn't flood are breathing a huge sigh of relief. The sky was so blue today that people seemed almost delirious with relief and happiness.
Note for future reference: Buyers should realize a sump pump is a good thing. Even if you use it only once - you want it there and working when the 100 year flood comes. More than one flooded basement we visited had a defunct sump pump or an empty hole where one had been removed.
Comments(20)