As usual this year, what puddles? Just like the snow, most of the rain went south of us.

This is the third day in a row of high, screaming winds and non-stop driving rain where I live. Roads closed due to flooding, including state routes and even the ramp to the interstate. Potholes full of water, making them even more dangerous. Every flat surface puddled on lawns and gardens. Rivers at their brim. It's one to remember.

My story is the same as Ginny. Time to call Noah.

I was just coming to post the same thing!

I've got a lake in my front yard. But that's okay - because it's not in the basement.... yet. The sump pump is going furiously.

Dee

We've had a very good soaking here too and it's still raining and the wind is still whistling through the trees although it is calmer then yesterday. I have very few puddles around the yard. The yard was so dry from so little precipitation that I think I needed every drop. A town about a half hour from us got 8 inches of rain! We had about 4 inches so far. We've gone around and checked all the ceilings, even in the attic and closets with a flashlight to make sure they are dry. The basement is dry too. Feeling very grateful for that. Hope everyone else stays dry.

Not many flat surfaces here, and the sandy soil drains well so puddles aren't a big problem. The wind, however, took down my weather vane plus cupola, and the east-facing sliding door leaked (a door under a very big overhang). No nearby trees came down and few branches. I guess everything loose fell in the last few storms. The nicely organized cellar is dry.

Claire

We, too, had a monsoon to remember. . .and, unfortunately, I had a repeat of my disaster five years ago:

My lower gar*den (full sun, full of perennials) is the lowest point in my
neighborhood. . .thanks to a red-neck neighbor, who six years ago was allowed to raise his grade adjoining my garden BY FIVE FEET (the town rejected my objection!), it is now a perfect sink hole waiting to happen. And, as happened five years ago, the run-off water sewers at the apart*ment complex down the street, couldn't handle the massive rains - and a wall of water cascaded across my other neighbor's yard and ended up in my garden. Fortunately, it does pretty-much drain off in 24-36 hours - the depth of the unplanned pond this time was 15" since you can see the stain line on a bench in the middle of the garden - but only time will tell how many plants were actually drowned! Sure, I could re-grade the lower garden, build 100' retaining walls and replant everything (about 250 plants!), but my heart's not in it since two outside parties have caused the problem, and it never happened the first ten years that I was here. Maybe it's a sign. . .time to move on to the next garden. . .

Carl

If the next garden is in New England, then I think it's a wise plan, Carl. Other than that, you have my sympathy.

We haven't had any flooding so far, but I've just been remembering that the insurance agent never called back after I contacted her last month to ask for an estimate on flood insurance. Hmmm.

Like Dee, I am grateful to hear our our sump pump kicking in rpeatedly since we sit on a clay layer, and despite a Fren*ch dr*ain which siphons off the worst of the underground flow, we have had cellar floods in past years prior to the installation of the sump pump. Since our ground is actually completely thawed and the snow has almost entirely melted (an unusual occurance at this time of year) we have puddles and high water in the river and stream, but not flooding.) Our worst floods are caused by rain on top of snow before the soil is thawed enough for the water to be able to soak in at all. The news had lots of road closings farther south and east of us, so I guess our rain must have been lighter than some nearby areas.

I hope the rest of you are drying out with the rest of the week predicted to be warmer and drier.

Can we borrow Noah's ark here too? We received about 7.5 inches of rain in my town and some of the "puddles" are big! There are 3 rivers that flow through the town, one of which is experiencing major flooding and there is significant flooding in the others. If the flood plain spans roads, meadows, and other flat areas, then that's where the water goes. Although my house is upland and dry, some houses and buildings have become waterfront property. :)

This nearby road is completely impassable, and the adjacent golf course and meadows are flooded-
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This is the road bridge for what is normally a river, but now it's a lake!
{{gwi:364574}}

Here we are driving across a flooded area of 117 in Concord this morning (close to Verrill Farm). Later in the day the police closed this section of road because the water had gotten deeper, and a car was abandoned in the middle of the water.
{{gwi:364575}}

Where do you get rainfall amounts for a specific town? We're having an argument about how much rain we got over the weekend, and I'm losing! TIA -DtD

DTD, I went to Weather underground and looked at the local report yesterday morning, which listed a neighboring town so I figured we got about the same amount. You could also look at weather history for your location, and count up the rainfall received each day of the storm.

The flooding around my part of town has gotten WORSE this morning so apparently the flood plain levels are still rising. Two more main roads around here are closed that weren't closed yesterday morning. This leaves only one way to get to Route 2, which was backed up 3 miles from the highway. I turned around and went back home to wait until rush hour is over.

That's amazing terrene! We had heard that Concord was flooded and it is nice to have our own roving weather person complete with photos! We were trying to imagine what it looked like over there. Just wild!

Dear DtD:

I assume you want data for Cape Cod? Here are the total for major Cape Stations:

Hyannis: 2.85 inches
Chatham: 1.15 inches
Martha's Vineyard: 2.72 inches.

The Cape got off very easy. Other nearby SE Mass locations:

New Bedford: 4.66 inches
Taunton: 5.14 inches.

So, as you can see, more rain fell further north in eastern Massachusetts. MOst of the Boston metro area received 6-10 inches.

Thanks, Rockman. Looking at 5 or 6 days data from one of the Falmouth stations on weather underground, it looked like our total for the weekend was just over 3 inches. But I guess it was really localized in terms of the actual amount of rain.

All around the western suburbs-like Concord- there was flooding. Roads were closed anywhere a river runs, and there are many many brooks even in the very populated developed towns. Woburn got 10 inches; Waltham was very hard hit. But what I noticed was the traffic. It was taking 2 hours by public transit to get from Forest Hills to Arlington. 45 minutes from Lexington to Arlington (normally 15 minutes) The traffic was so backed up you couldn't even imagine where the source of the delay was. I was safe and dry in a car; so many people had a foot of water in their basements. We had workers out because they had to take care of waterlogged homes and people cancelling appointments because of same.

Sue, those photos are something else. Amazing. All that flat land made good farm and pastureland, despite the boulders.

Marie

The northern suburbs are still flooded in many areas too. Rainfall totals were seven to ten inches.

Thanks for posting about the Weather Underground. I have been looking for a link to that kind of information for awhile. I checked out my town and we had more rain than I thought. Over 3 days it was 7.35 inches. What a nice way to start off the spring growing season.

Thought I'd bring this thread up for the memorable March monsoons of 2010. Storm #1 in the middle of the month was followed by a lesser but still impressive storm #2 a week later. And now, just one more week after that, another record-breaker. It is still absolutely a deluge here north of Boston.

And I was just thinking about the cloudy, cold wet summer we had last year. Do you know my town *raised* water bills because people used less water? Yes, folks, only in Massachusetts. They counted on a certain income, didn't get it, so raised the cost to get their number.