Severe weather saturated Massachusetts with rain Tuesday morning, prompting flash flood warnings as water filled roadways up and down the state, leaving some drivers stranded and major roadways closed.
A pond in North Andover was breached, which sent water rushing through Jaime’s Restaurant on High Street in North Andover.
Owner Jaime Faria waited for hours while the flooding swept away his 13-year-old business.
“It’s just, it’s my life,” Faria said. “This is my life.”
Unsure when he’s able to reopen, Faria said his biggest concern is not the destroyed equipment but retaining his employees.
“I’m gonna get emotional,” Faria said. “They are Jaime’s, not me. It’s them. It’s hard.”
In Stoneham, a woman was rescued from a flooded roadway where she was carried away in knee-high water. Drivers were also stranded during the flash flood in Lawrence.
“While we were waiting for the cops and parents to come the waters rose and now I’m kind of stuck,” a man said.
Flooding also affected Billerica, Tewksbury and Andover.
Multiple vehicles were abandoned in areas like Andover and Lawrence, where waters rose to windshield levels in some cases.
One case in Lawrence, where over 6″ of rain fell, involved South Street flooding to a point where a Honda SUV was almost fully-submerged after initially getting stuck as the water started to rise.
“I came down right behind her, [her vehicle] died and pulled over, another little car kind of crept by and I just pulled over and sat there wondering what to do,” said Mark Gaulin, who drove up and helped the Honda driver before later getting stuck himself.
A few miles away in Andover, another vehicle with a man, woman and child inside ended up stuck in the water after trying to use an exit ramp off of I-93 North.
Bystanders as well as a 7NEWS crew offered help to the sedan stuck on Exit 39, before the passengers eventually exited and waded through knee-deep water to a nearby median.
During that time, an SUV as well as a MassDOT truck attempted to wade through the water, only to become stuck themselves before later being towed out.
No injuries were reported in either case.
Per the MassDOT, numerous roadways were closed throughout the day, including parts of Route 1 in Revere, the road between I-195 and Route 6, Route 28 northbound in Somerville, and more.
Early rainfall totals indicated at least 3-4″ of rain fell over a course of eight hours throughout areas like the Merrimack Valley, parts of Boston area and the Cape.
During that time, at least three Tornado Warnings were issued, starting in central Mass. around 9:30 a.m. and later in the southeast part of the state, where the National Weather Service confirmed a tornado appeared over Mattapoisett around 11:30 a.m. Another tornado also touched down in Barnstable around 11:50 a.m.
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