Storm inundates Lynn area

LYNN – Cleanup and public safety crews kept busy for 24 hours Wednesday into Thursday as a storm system brought limbs, leaves and localized flooding into the streets.”The calls started coming in at 3 p.m. (Thursday), we had crews on all night, and still have crew on now,” Lynn Department of Public Works Commissioner Andy Hall said Thursday evening. “I think a lot of it is blocked catchbasins with the leaves. We got leaves that are just ready to fall off, and they get rain on them, get heavier and all come down at once.”The National Weather Service recorded 2.18 inches of rain fell at Logan Airport Thursday, adding to about a ? inch of rain that fell Wednesday, and winds gusted up to 44 miles per hour. The heaviest rainfall was recorded between 4 and 5 a.m. Thursday – with rates of ? inch falling an hour – and prompted localized flooding to coincide with the morning commute.West Lynn south of Summer Street down to Bennett Street bore the brunt of the flooding in the city.At around 8:15 a.m. Thursday, Oakville Street between Summer and Bennett streets was flooded to the point where anything but a three-axle truck had to turn around. Summer and Shepard was impassable, while a school bus hugged the curb to deliver students to Connery Elementary School.The fire department rescued a woman who reported she was trapped in her car at West Neptune and Elmwood streets around 8:30 a.m. Firefighters pushed the car to a point where the water was shallow enough that the woman could get out of the vehicle, according to Lynn District Chief Steve Archer.To the north, Swampscott Public Works Director Gino Cresta reported a bit of flooding at the Swampscott and Lynn border on Humphrey Street and a bit of surf splashing over from Kings Beach at a noon high tide.”The flooding wasn’t that bad,” Cresta said. (He noted that perhaps the most dramatic example of the flooding – a partially submerged SUV in the Marshalls parking lot in Vinnin Square – occurred on private property).Cresta also said that clearing storm drains on Danvers Road alleviated spots, such as near Stop & Shop, which, in previous storms, have experienced heavy flooding from overflowing streams.Saugus Assistant Chief of Police Ronald Giorgetti reported localized flooding at the intersection of Hamilton and Boston streets early Thursday morning, which prompted that street to be closed until the Department of Public Works could help clear up the scene.Localized flooding was also reported on Elm Street and slowed traffic on Route 1, Giorgetti reported.Peabody closed schools Wednesday and the police log recorded flooding at Summit, Washington and Central streets, Howley and Walnut streets; Foster and Spring streets; Sawyer and Railroad Avenue; Jubilee Drive and Bridge Street; or, as the log stated, “flooding in the usual spots.”But local officials agreed that the majority of problems came from downed limbs. Police logs and (in some cases, tweets) from Marblehead, Peabody, Lynn and Saugus police departments documented a continuous stream of reports of downed limbs and entangled wires.Trees or major limbs reportedly fell on houses at 43 Grant Road and 17 Lawrence Road in Swampscott and at 77 Great Woods Road in Saugus.But it was the smaller limbs and trees in the roads that kept chainsaws constantly humming overnight.”I’ve been here since pretty much 8 p.m. (Wednesday), mostly just dealing with tree issues,” Cresta said at 6 p.m. Thursday.And for coastal communities, another high tide was coming at midnight Thursday.”We’re waiting to see what is coming down the pike as far as more rain tonight,” Lynn District Fire Chief Tim Collier said Thursday evening.But crews did not report any injuries from the storm, said that equipment held up well and seemed to take the storm in stride.”It’s a coordinated effort between us, fire department and public works, but we were well-prepared,” Giorgetti said. “Thankfully it wasn’t snow.”