WORCESTER, Mass. — After a solid week of freezing weather, what else to expect two weeks before Christmas in Central Massachusetts but a massive rainstorm rising on a plume of 60-degree air?
Abnormal? It’s hard to say anymore. But the fact it wasn’t snow made some happy.
“It’s easier to drive in the rain as opposed to the snow,” one Millbury resident said.
“When it snows a lot of people fall and break body parts,” said “Sarah” from Worcester. “And I feel bad for the elderly.”
Wednesday’s weather was not ideal for them, either. The storm not only brought heavy bands of rain but potentially dangerous wind gusts that could top 60 knots overnight. Widespread power outages are expected, as well as downed limbs and trees.
[ Latest maps: Torrential rain, fierce wind gusts could cause power outages, damage, flooding in Mass. ]
Late in the day, with the worst of the storm to come, Worcester’s more notorious flood zones remained passable, including the railroad underpass near Kansas Street. Water was, however, rushing to its bowl-like center and accumulating.
Unlike Boston, Worcester did receive several inches of snow a few days ago. What was left of it dissolved in the onslaught of precipitation — something that worried Alyssa Chartier, who noticed water in her basement even after the snow fell.
“And then everything started melting,” she said. “So there were little puddles of water. But now that it’s raining, it’s worse.”
Boston 25 News asked Worcester’s DPW and the city manager’s office whether contingency plans were in place for possible flooding. Neither agency returned our calls by deadline.
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