Rhode Island Flooding Leaves Widespread Damage Behind
It will take quite some time for residents to recover from the damage caused by Rhode Island flooding. The water started receding as of Thursday.
Most of the week Rhode Island suffered because of flooded roads and basements. Many schools remained closed on Thursday too.
In a CNN news report, Fire Battalion Chief Joseph Greenwell said, "The Pawtuxet River, which impacts our community, crested. But at this point, there's widespread damage throughout the city from the river, which overflowed its banks."
He further said, "We haven't had anything that's physically washed away yet, but the impact of the floodwaters rushing over the bridges and eroding the foundations of the bridges. The water is still too high to determine exactly what the damage is going to be once the floodwaters recede."
Greenwell also said, "It's too early to tell (the financial impact of the floods), but I would guess it will be well into the millions, without a doubt,".
It all started with the forming of a rainstorm early in the week which engulfed the whole Northeast by Tuesday. The worst affected in the Northeast flooding was Rhode Island.
Heavy rains were recorded with 8.75 inches of rain in East Providence, 7.6 inches in downtown Providence and 5 inches in Cranston, all in Rhode Island.
The Pawtuxet River, running through Cranston crested at 20.79 feet Wednesday, nearly 12 feet above flood stage, as per the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Advanced Hydrometeorological Service, reports CNN. The water level has started to recede slowly and expected to fall below flood level after Sunday only.
President Obama declared a state of emergency for the entire state earlier.
National Grid Energy Services said 12,000 to 14,000 customers went without electricity in the Cranston area, where a substation was underwater.
