Flooding rains impact travel

Four days of torrential rain that drenched the North Shore made travel difficult Wednesday in low lying areas and kept public safety crews scurrying for much of the day.In Lynn, the Buchanan Bridge on Western Avenue was flooded, along with other low-lying areas such as Commercial and Bennett streets and parts of Boston Street.Residents traveling around the Lynn/Nahant rotary inbound toward Nahant were urged to exercise caution due to ponding on the roadways.Police Lt. Thomas Hutton said a car stalled in the rotary Wednesday morning when rain was falling at more than an inch per hour.”We are experiencing minor to moderate flooding,” Hutton said. “Motorists are urged to avoid low lying areas that are prone to flooding because of the amount of water pooling on the roads.”Phone lines at the Nahant police and fire departments went down around 10 a.m. due to the storm. An electronic sign situated near the Tides Restaurant was set up to alert town residents to call 911 in the event of an emergency. Those calls would then be forwarded to Nahant police and fire through the BAPERN (Boston Area Police Emergency Radio Network) system.Crews from Verizon remained on scene working to eradicate the problem well into the evening.In Swampscott, some motorists made a point of avoiding two low lying areas that are especially prone to flooding. Department of Public Works Director Gino Cresta said flooding on Stetson Street and Burrill Street is always a problem when the area receives heavy rain. Cresta said those two areas are especially problematic because the roadway had to be lowered so trucks could get under the train bridge.”We had one vehicle that got stuck on Stetson Street,” Cresta said. “But as soon as the rain slowed down the water dissipated. The drainage just couldn’t keep up when the rain was at its heaviest.”Flooding was also reported on Humphrey Street in the vicinity of the Fish House and in the Marshalls parking lot in Vinnin Square.Saugus Public Works Superintendent Joseph Attubato said overall the town fared well in terms of flooding.Attubato said he received a few calls from residents on Innis Street in regards to basements being flooded largely as a result of the Elm Street bridge becoming overwhelmed.”There’s nothing we can do for them right now,” Attubato said. “It’s uncomfortable to deal with every time it rains but we can’t do much at the moment.”DPW crews spent much of the afternoon cleaning out catch basins in attempt to keep other low lying areas from flooding. A large tree limb came down blocking Essex Street at Anawan Avenue but Attubato said there were no other serious incidents and no power outages.Attubato said he was also thrilled to report that the Lincoln Avenue pump station was holding its own.”We’re up almost 10 million gallons and it’s purring like a kitty,” he said.Attubato said he was confident the rain would let up by nightfall and he expected the next few days would be so hot, “people will start complaining about that.”