LISTEN: Clean-up Begins After Major Flooding in Lynn

Lynn and other soggy North Shore communities are cleaning up today after early morning storms yesterday dumped over 8 inches of rain in just a few short hours stranding drivers on flooded roads and knocking out power to many. WGBH senior reporter Phillip Martin was in Lynn and spoke with WGBH All Things Considered anchor Barbara Howard about how the community is cleaning up from yesterday’s rain.

Barbara Howard: How is Lynn doing?

Phillip Martin: Lynn is recovering. It went through an extraordinary deluge over the weekend. And you see puddles everywhere and there’s still residue of the problem and folks are still trying in some cases trying to get their cars repaired after a weekend of people driving into flooded areas.

Howard: Now you're with someone there who was in the middle of it, right?

Martin: I'm talking to Mike Nelson and he’s been talking about being in the center of the storm. He’s an assistant manager at Shell at the corner of Commercial and Lynnway and this station saw many, many cars being towed in, some of them right in front of them on the Lynnway. And Mike was one of the witnesses to a lot of confusion over the weekend including seeing people being hauled out of their cars with rain and one car being pushed up by a truck. But he can tell you this story better than I can. I’m going to put him on the phone.

Howard: Hi Mike – can you tell me what you saw?

Mike Nelson: It was very crazy. Early in the morning it was just pouring and pouring. At one point on Commercial Street over here, which runs into Lynnway, it was just knee deep, cars are going through and the water is just past their tires at some point. It was just getting scary.

Howard: Did you see people getting out of their cars or were they stuck in their cars? What was it like?

Nelson: I literally have a picture of a gentleman hanging out his window waving for attention because at one point a fireman came down here, hey literally had like a red boat to save them.

There was one point where it was basically a crane and it was lifting a car up, it was like stuck in the middle of the exit because I think the car got flooded out.

Howard: How many cars did you see stranded like that?

Nelson: At one point, at least seven or eight cars.

Howard: Did people come to your gas station to seek refuge?

Nelson: Some of them just came here for a cup of coffee and getting stuck here.

Howard: Why, because you were surrounded by water?

Nelson: Yeah – the Lynnway was flooded. They wouldn’t – at one point – let people into Lynn through the Lynnway, they wouldn’t let people out.

Howard: I know at one point the roads were closed down?

Nelson: Yes, they were. And I think around 2 o’clock they opened back up.

Howard: What's it like today?

Nelson: Today it's like a few little puddles, for the most part there's just a lot of dirt and debris that the water brought in.

Howard: A lot of cleanup it sounds like.

Nelson: Yes, a lot of cleanup – but it’ll get done. Everybody always bounces back from what they’re doing.

Howard: Thanks – Mike Nelson helps manage a gas station there in Lynn that was affected by the floodwaters that came up so rapidly yesterday when Lynn saw eight inches plus fall on the city, within just a few hours in the early morning. This is All Things Considered.