LEOMINSTER, MASS. (WHDH) - Dozens of people arrived at Frances Drake Elementary School in Leominster Monday night after the city opened the school as an emergency shelter for people forced out of their homes by flooding.
School officials announced early Monday evening that there would be no classes in Leominster public schools on Tuesday. By 10:30 p.m., following its announcement as a shelter, approximately 30 people had arrived at the Frances Drake School.
Officials said most if not all of the people already at Frances Drake had been evacuated from the Meadowbrook Acres mobile home community, where 7NEWS cameras previously captured video of crews pulling residents on rafts away from their flooded homes.
Roughly a half hour later, around 11 p.m., the number of people seeking shelter at Frances Drake had risen past 60.
In addition to the Meadowbrook Acres community, officials said the Leominster Fire Department was monitoring the situation at the Keystone nursing home where the basement was flooded Monday night.
Fire crews were on scene around 10:30 p.m., waiting to determine whether the facility would need to be evacuated. If evacuated, nursing home residents would need to be taken to a more clinical care environment than the one available at the Frances Drake School.
Back at Frances Drake, crews were seen offloading pallets of water and other supplies as they worked to care for those arriving at the school.
Officials said heavy rain started falling in Leominster around 4:15 p.m. Monday.
Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella said people ultimately needed rescues in multiple spots around the city after flooding started.
A state of emergency was in effect for Leominster Monday night and the National Weather Service declared a larger flash flood emergency for Leominster and several of its surrounding communities.
A still larger swath of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire was included under a series of flash flood warnings as of 10 p.m., though those warnings later expired.
This is a developing story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest updates.
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