Just days after Haverhill, Massachusetts, was walloped with 18 inches of snow, another storm is expected to bring heavy rain to New England. The city's mayor says she's very worried about the flooding that it's expected to cause Tuesday and Wednesday.
“There’s incredible concerns,” Haverhill Mayor Melinda Barrett said. “This is 18 inches of water on the ground -- or more than 18 inches of water on the ground -- and it’s going to melt and we’re going to have added water. It could be a problem.”
The Haverhill Department of Public Works, which was still salting and cleaning up after the snow storm on Monday, was asking people to shovel out the catch basins in front of their homes, especially those who live at lower elevations.
“Where’s the water going to go? Right now, catch basins are covered by the snow banks,” Haverhill Department of Public Works Director Bob Ward said. “If they know where the catch basins are in front of their house, it would be an immense help if they can go out and just clear away that catch basin.”
The mid-week storm is likely to be a moderate- to high-impact event across the region, bringing damaging wind gusts, a burst of interior snow, heavy rainfall and localized flooding. With snow turning to rain, a combination of the snowpack, rain amounts and melting from mild air will mean significant drainage issues and a spike into flood stage for many of the area's rivers and streams.
The National Weather Service has already issued flood watches and wind advisories for much of New England.
Power companies were already gearing up for the next storm.
Eversource said Monday that it has already brought in outside crews to supplement its local lineworkers and will station its staff across Massachusetts to be able to respond to outages from downed trees.
"This storm has a similar profile to the one we had three weeks ago that caused significant tree damage and outages, but this time we also have roadside snow piles that complicate the work for our crews," Eversource President of Regional Electric Operations Craig Hallstrom said in a statement.
The company urged residents to prepare ahead of the storm, as did National Grid, which said Monday it was monitoring the next storm, and Vermont's Green Mountain Power.
"We want customers to be safe, so think ahead and pay attention to changing conditions. Always stay far away from any downed trees or lines and assume they are energized," Mike Burke, the utility's vice president of field operations, said in a statement.
