Flooding ravages Northeastern United States

May 16, 2006 The New England region of the United States has received the heaviest rainfall in decades leading to flooding and massive road closures. The states affected are Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. A state of emergency has been declared in all these areas. The floods have also led to thousands of evacuations in many cities. Only a single death has been reported.

The main concern in many cities and towns is whether the dams that hold rivers from flowing in cities will hold long enough.

These floods are the worst in New England since 1936 when over 150 died.

Maine
In Maine, many roads and bridges were damaged or submerged as residents were evacuated from their homes in Lebanon because of two dams near breaking point.

Massachusetts
In Haverhill, Mass. sewage pipes broke spilling 115 million gallons of sewage into the city a day. Over 1000 people have had to evacuate their homes In Lowell because of the flooding.

In Peabody, Mass. the downtown area is currently flooded.

New Hampshire
Over 600 roads were damaged or completely submerged by the floods in many areas of the state. The hardest hit cities have been Manchester and Newmarket who are both leading in the most amount of evacuations. The flood waters have also weakened and destroyed many dams.