LEOMINSTER, Mass. — Hurricane Lee barreled north toward New England on Wednesday and threatened to unleash violent storms on the region just as communities in Massachusetts and Rhode Island dealt with tornado warnings and a second-straight day of heavy rain that opened up sinkholes and brought devastating flooding to several communities.
Late Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane watch for portions of Maine. A tropical storm watch also was issued for a large area of coastal New England from parts of Rhode Island to Stonington, Maine, including Block Island, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.
The National Weather Service said Wednesday it’s looking into reports of strong winds that toppled trees and knocked down power lines in Rhode Island and Connecticut but is unable to say whether they were the result of tornadoes. A tornado warning was extended until 5:45 p.m. for several Massachusetts counties.
Rob Megnia, a meteorologist with the weather service, said they have received reports of about 20 trees down in Killingly, Connecticut, and trees and power lines down in Foster, Rhode Island.
“Typically, we would have to go out and do a survey to determine if it’s a tornado unless there’s visual confirmation, but we don’t have that yet,” Megnia said.
Emergency sirens could be heard late Wednesday afternoon in parts of Providence, Rhode Island, as cell phones pinged with a tornado warning. By early evening, the weather service said a severe thunderstorm capable of producing tornadoes was moving quickly east toward the Massachusetts border, from Cumberland, Rhode Island.
Late Tuesday, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey issued a state of emergency following the “catastrophic flash flooding and property damage” in two counties and other communities. The 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain over six hours earlier in the week was a “200-year event,” said Matthew Belk, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Boston.
Healey said Wednesday that while there aren’t plans to call up the National Guard, the state’s emergency management agency is keeping a close eye on the weather and is prepared to offer assistance.
She said the state is monitoring the conditions of dams in many communities and urged residents to take seriously any warnings of potential flooding and to stay off the roads when ordered.
“Something that looks pretty minor can, just within a couple of hours, turn into something very serious, potentially deadly and very, very destructive,” Healey said.
The rain created several sinkholes in Leominster, Massachusetts, including one at a dealership where several cars were swallowed up. In Providence, Rhode Island, downpours flooded a parking lot and parts of a shopping mall. Firefighters used inflatable boats to rescue more than two dozen people stranded in cars.
Parking lots at several businesses briefly became lakes in Leominster and North Attleborough, and many front yards were still partially covered in water. For a second day, families were busy assessing the damage and removing flood-damaged debris. The sounds of generators filled the air in many neighborhoods, as residents worked to remove water from their basements.
John DeCicco, a retired school teacher in Leominster, said residents who started the day with dread and apprehension over a forecast for more rain were feeling more optimistic later in the day. He said residents of the close-knit community were helping each other clean up and opening their homes to others whose residences are uninhabitable.
“We’re going to get through this together,” said DeCicco, who loaned a pair of generators to neighbors during the flood to keep their water pumps going.
DeCicco said he lived through the Blizzard of 1978 that dumped 30 inches of snow and an ice storm in 2008, but he said the intensity of the electrical storm and torrents of rain were a shock.
“You can call out the snow plows to push the snow around but you can’t call the snow plows to push the water around,” he said.
Dawn Packer, who runs a North Attleborough home preschool, looked across the street Monday evening to see a UPS truck floating in several feet of water. Soon her yard was flooding.
“All of sudden, the door smashed open. The water was so forceful. It just smashed the door open and poured in, 4 feet,” she said. “The refrigerator just shot up into the air and fell down on its side. It was horrific.”