RI Flood

Great Flood of RI – March 31, 2010

Yesterday morning I had to go visit my doctor on North Main Street in Providence. After a circuitous but reasonably quick detour I found my way to Rt. 10 North and traveled comfortably to make my appointment. Afterwards, I went to my office and had a meeting until 1:50 PM and headed back home. I was on Valley street where the entrance to Rt 10 was still blocked, so I went to Pleasant Valley St. and as I approached the intersection there I started taking video clips from the window as I drove. Where you will see in the video below “About 2:05 PM” I am driving towards Pleasant View and you can catch a glimpse of the river on the left.

Getting on to Rt. 10 South was easy and the freeway was almost empty. So I made it to Park Avenue in good time, you will see the time just before I turn left and merge the traffic on Park Ave. From there to my house the distance is about 3.2 miles which took me about two hours to drive. Talk about bumper-to-bumper traffic!

As I made a right turn on Broad Street, you may hear me announcing the time, 3:47 PM. I had a short distance ahead but a long time to go yet. You see, Providence is on one side of Pawtuxet River and Warwick is on the other side. There are a few bridges that will connect the road, but several of them were closed due to traffic. So, it seemed like the entire traffic from Providence to any destination in Warwick was going through the small, historic Pawtuxet Village where the bridge over the river is fully operational. Although it is a two lane, two-way traffic, it is better than getting stranded on one side or the other.

As the convoy approached Pawtuxet Village I thought I could see the road ahead being clear, which did not make much sense at that point. However, when I drove through the village and over the bridge I saw what I thought to be the ONLY cause of the slow moving traffic. People eager to see the flooded river were parking on the sides and looking over the railings. There is nothing wrong with parking of course, as there are designate parking areas. But, the people crossing the street, getting in and out of the parking spaces must have created enough interference to cause a huge backlog of traffic extending about 3-4 miles. As I crossed over the bridge, the road suddenly became empty and I made it home in a couple of minutes after that point, one full mile. So a backward calculation tells me that I traveled about 2 miles in 2 hours!

I thought it would have been a good move on the part of the emergency crews to prevent people from stopping to look at the river. But, then, they must have been swamped with emergencies to tend to. So, I am making a plea to anyone who may read this post to alert people if they are in that neighborhood not to block the traffic as it terribly inconveniences hundreds, perhaps thousands of people simply trying to go to their destinations. The following video covers a time span of about 2 hours and 30 minutes (no it is not that long!!) and I recorded it as I drove, thus the choppy feeling; but I like it.

This too shall pass!

View the video to get a better idea of the flood

Great Flood of Rhode Island, 2010

We have been getting much, too much rain lately. This has become a critical problem for RI in the last couple of days. Although a few weeks ago there was some flooding, that was contained to areas near the river banks. Now, the roads have become the river banks. For the first time in probably 20 years we have water in the basement, a good amount too. The sump pump has been going almost at a steady pace to keep up with the incoming water because of the rising underground water table. It comes into the sump area as well as just through the floor. Luckily the side we had carpeted and finished this past summer never got too much water and that side seems mostly dry, except around the doors to the wet side. We’ll get the carpet vacuumed probably.

Many roads are closed in RI, schools are dismissed early, they even canceled evening classes at Providence College. I drove home on my usual route, from Eaton Street to River Avenue, to Valley Street. When I arrived to the turn off to the freeway I noticed that a police car had blocked the road. A quick look explained the reason, the road was flooded just in front of the old US Rubber (not many will remember the old company) I turned back and entered Rt. 10 from the Dean Street side, the traffic was moving fine until I came to Park Avenue exit where I normally turn left to go to Warwick Avenue. Noticing the traffic jam going in that direction, I turned right to take Elmwood Avenue. That worked until I saw the police car a mile or so down the road blocking the traffic because the road was impassable. Back to Park Avenue and I continued on that following the very slow moving traffic. I made it to Warwick Avenue but the traffic was still moving very slowly. At 5:15 PM I started taking photographs with my phone. It took me full 10 minutes to drive about 500-600 feet to pass by Shaw’s Supermarket whose parking lot and the store was flooded. From the first photograph to the last one you will see part of what I saw in that 10 minute period. That section of the road is now closed as the Pawtuxet River crested over 18-20 feet. This is the second flooding of Shaw’s Supermarket along with many other businesses elsewhere, like Warwick Mall, and many homes. Our situation is relatively mild compared to what others have been reporting. Official word is that this has been the most rain RI has received in the last 100 years.

Tomorrow, there is only a “chance” of showers. We are taking it as good news!