By Paul Tuthill
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wamc/local-wamc-983961.mp3
Greenfield, MA – Tropical Storm Irene brought significant rainfall and damaging floods to western Massachusetts. People are beginning to dry out and clean up their property today in some of the hard hit communities in the Pioneer Valley..WAMC's Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports.
The Deerfield River left behind a muddy mess when it went over its banks in Greenfield. Dan Malloy says in the 22 years he's lived in a flood prone area, he's never seen the water rush in that fast.
The water rose to seven feet in Malloy's cellar.
Tony Ciano says the flood caused at least 300 thousand dollars damage at his auto salvage yard.
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick , who surveyed the damage in Greenfield Monday morning, called the flooding extraordinary.
Patrick said he was pleased with the state's emergency response and with the actions taken by local officials. There was no loss of life or serious injuries reported in western Massachusetts as a result of the violent storm. Authorities said a 52 year old man in the central Massachusetts town of Southbridge was electrocuted when he touched a railing on his front porch that had been electrified by a downed high tension power line.
Power companies with help from line crews from as far away as the mid-west, were still working Monday to restore electricity to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses across the state. But Western Massachusetts Electric Company said it anticipated that most of its customers would have service back by Monday evening. The utility said there were more than 30 thousand outages at the peak..
15 damage assessment teams from the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency fanned out across the state Monday. Gov. Patrick said what they find will help determine what federal aid programs might be available to help home and business owners recovery from the disaster.
Patrick said what struck him when he saw the flooding from the air, was how much farm land had been under water. Carolyn Ness, a member of the Board of Selectman and the Board of Health in Deerfield said the flooding there was the worst since a flood that hit over Columbus Day weekend in 2005.
25 hundred National Guard Troops were deployed during the storm. Major General Joseph Carter, the head of the Massachusetts National Guard, said the soldiers helped out with evacuations, and checked on the well-being of people whose homes were cut off by floodwaters.
Massachusetts State Police said most major roads that had been closed due to flooding have now reopened. The southbound side of Interstate 91 between Sunderland and Greenfield is still closed pending a safety inspection of a bridge.
The National Weather Service still has flood warnings posted for along the Connecticut River in Northampton until Wednesday morning.