LEOMINSTER, MASS. (WHDH) - One year after severe flooding hit Leominster, residents and public officials alike are still dealing with the effects of the storm.
Exactly 365 days after rain started falling, many residents on Wednesday were also still shaking their heads about what happened.
“It was pretty scary,” said Nancy Spagnuolo.
Nancy and Ad Spagnuolo live in the Meadowbrook Acres mobile home park in Leominster. When the first rain arrived, they said it did not seem like a big deal.
Soon, though, Nancy said the water had risen close to her home’s windows. And first responders were frantically banging on her front door, telling Nancy and Ad they needed to evacuate.
“It was raining. It was a terrible day…And then it just kept getting worse and worse,” Nancy said.
Local leaders note ongoing recovery effort
Stormy weather swept across much of southern New England on Sept. 11, 2023. The storm hit Leominster particularly hard, prompting the National Weather Service to declare a flash flood emergency in the area.
In Leominster, emergency crews rushed to deploy rafts to rescue residents from their homes. Roads crumbled into suddenly swollen waterways.
Floodwater filled basements and damaged buildings. Part of the parking lot outside a luxury car dealership collapsed, spilling cars into the Nashua River.
City officials transformed a school into a makeshift shelter. State authorities suspended service on the MBTA Commuter Rail in the area.
In the days and weeks that followed, schools reopened. The MBTA restored train service to Leominster.
City officials positioned large dumpsters for residents to throw away damaged belongings. On Sept. 15, four days after the flood, officials announced plans to build a temporary road to restore access to a neighborhood that was stranded after a bridge to their homes collapsed.
Gov. Maura Healey toured the damaged city with local officials and immediately discussed efforts to get federal funding for storm recovery projects.
After the Federal Emergency Management Agency denied Leominster’s disaster relief request, President Joe Biden changed course on appeal, approving a series of grants for temporary housing and home repairs. Biden also greenlit low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses and approved funding for “other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.”
Though the Biden Administration sent some federal dollars to help residents and business owners, it still rejected a request to fund repairs of flood-damaged public property.
Officials in Massachusetts criticized the decision but promised to push forward, applying for individual grants to help bankroll repairs.
“It hasn’t stopped at all,” said Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella in a Facebook Live video Wednesday morning. “…Project by project, it’s basically like rebuilding the city.”
Mazzarella said he started the day attending a ceremony to mark the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
While driving through Leominster, he said he also spoke with a MassDOT employee doing surveying work on a damaged bridge along Mechanic Street.
Though the bridge has been deemed safe, it still has jersey barriers in place blocking part of its deck.
“Everyone worked so closely together,” Mazzarella said. “We were able to get the city open. So much happened. But we’re still working on it.”
“There’s still a lot of loose ends,” he continued.
Mazzarella said he wanted the city’s focus on Wednesday to be on the 9/11 anniversary.
While thinking about the anniversary of the flood, he said he was also still processing the events.
“It’s only a year later that you start to think back about the day and where you were then and how it all unfolded,” he said.
Though officials did not plan any major observances to mark the one year anniversary of the storm, Mazzarella said city officials are planning to gather community members in November to celebrate unsung heroes who sprung into action when the floodwater rose.
Mazzarella did not share further details about plans for an event in November but said many people stepped up during the flood and never sought praise for their actions.
“Those are true unsung heroes, and there are a lot of them, and we want to know who they are, and we want to know their stories, and we want to recognize them,” he said.
‘I’ll always remember that’
7NEWS spoke with people in Leominster in January as the storm recovery stretched into a new year. At the Fix Burger Bar, employees said they had only recently finished repairing the restaurant after flooding filled their first floor with water.
“It was, like, wrecked,” said employee Sophia Mochieti at the time.
Speaking on Wednesday, Leominster resident Bob Henry said he knew he had to escape when he saw the floodwater.
“We didn’t take anything, because we didn’t know what was going to come after,” he said. “We just got in our car and ran.”
He will never forget the flood.
Asked a similar question, Nancy Spagnuolo had a similar answer.
“I’ll always remember that,” she said.
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