LEOMINSTER, MASS. (WHDH) - Flash-flooding in Leominster forced first responders to use inflatable boats to rescue residents who became trapped by the flood waters. And as the waters receded Tuesday, local business owners were getting their first look at the damage.
Those rescued said the water came so quickly that they didn’t have time to evacuate.
“When I left there was four feet of water on my porch,” said Arlene Sauler. “We had to get evacuated, the water just kept coming and coming and coming.”
The severe weather caused some buildings housing businesses in the area to collapse.
On Pleasant Street, the ground beneath the front portion of a house had been washed away and the road made impassable by a large break in the street.
Heather Dinitto was among the business owners who said they lost their livelihoods in the storm.
“I heard the dam let go and the river ran right through it and took out the entire first floor,” she said. “The bay doors, the garages, gone, the dumpsters are floating. My whole life is gone. My whole business, my entire everything, that’s my life right there, it’s gone, and we’re starting from scratch again.”
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