Massachusetts Environment & Hazard Risk

A Flash Flood emergency occurred, with considerable damage in the vicinity of Norwood Hospital. Severe flooding, more than 4 feet deep, occurred in the basement of the hospital. The entire pharmacy inventory was destroyed. One hundred patients had to be evacuated. Numerous cars were submerged in the parking lot, which, albeit, is in a 'bowl' not designed with flooding in mind. Damage to the hospital was estimated at $20,000,000. In addition, emergency management officials said that approximately 250 homes suffered flood damage.

Freezing rain caused numerous crashes and in some instances temporary road closures on the major arteries around Metropolitan Boston. These occurred near the start of the morning commute. A 63-year-old man who stopped to help a motorist stuck on an icy road in Needham was killed when a second vehicle slid into him, pinning him between two vehicles.

Sadly, winds gusting to around 50 mph, knocked down a rotted tree, which directly hit a 1-year-old baby, who his father was holding in the front yard of his house. The father only had scratches, but the baby was taken to a hospital and he died the next day.

At 210 PM EST, The Automated Surface Observing System platform at Worcester Airport measured a wind gust of 59 mph. There were several reports of trees brought down by the wind during the morning. A large tree fell on a car on Sutton Avenue in Oxford, killing a 50 year old man. A tree fell on an unoccupied house on Oread Street near Beacon Street in Worcester. A tree fell and blocked Main Street in Douglas, Old Westboro Road in Grafton, Westview Street in Auburn, and Hopkinton Road in Westborough.

Winds were generally gusting to 50 to 60 mph, but at the highest elevations, a mesonet site atop Mt. Tom recorded a gust to 78 mph at 617 PM EST. In Southwick at 1230 PM EST, a tree fell onto a SUV on Feeding Hills Road (Route 57), which sadly killed a 6-month old passenger.

A 27-year-old man walking along the shore at Ballston Beach in Truro Massachusetts was swept into the surf around 12:30 PM EST. He was fully clothed and walking on a narrow stretch of beach that only had 4 or 5 feet of sand next to the water. The surf/waves, which were pounding the shore that day, came by and literally knocked him off his feet and swept him fatally out to sea. His body was found one mile north of the beach the next morning. ||Truro Police and Fire along with a State Police helicopter and a U.S. Coast Guard vessel and helicopter all responded to assist in the desperate search. Some family members reportedly also tried unsuccessfully to reach the victim.