CRANSTON R.I. (WHDH) — An entire Cranston R.I. neighborhood was under water Monday as torrential rain forced firefighters to evacuate two apartment buildings by boat.
“They said they were going to take us by boat and get us out of there because they didn't know what was going on a far as gas leakage,” flood victim Julie England said.
Cranston Deputy Fire Chief Paul Valletta said the water was so high when firefighters first arrived it was over their waists.
“The guys that got here the water was already about four feet deep when they got here in the front of the building,” Valletta said. “They had to wade through it; they didn’t have time to put exposure suits on so they went in the building. They got everyone out of the basement apartments, which had already started flooding and in a matter of minutes they said the water was to the ceiling in the basement apartments.”
Streets and parking lots were turned into lakes by the flood water. Apartments were destroyed and left many residents of the building with nothing.
“It’s a mess everything is gone all my old pictures,” Stephanie Mendez said. “My table floated away, my couch, my daughters shoes are in the hallway.”
One firefighter was injured when the first floor collapsed due to the basement flooding, he was hospitalized late Monday evening.