BY RYAN O’CONNOR

A tree fell on Clinton Street in Bow, causing a chain reaction of events that eventually led to Doug and Katherine Crabb’s downstairs looking more like a wading pool than a basement.

The tree that fell knocked out power lines, causing electricity in the area to be out for more than three hours, and stopping the sump pump, said Doug Crabb.

“I’m surprised this rain turned into this much water,” he said, staring at the puddle that was his basement. “The brook out back, basically turned into a lake.”

It was the surprise factor that really caught them off guard, said Doug.

“We hadn’t really had much rain this spring, so I didn’t really think much of it,” he said. “When we got wet last year, along with everybody else in the state, we got 13 inches of rain in 10 days.

This year, it hadn’t rained in two weeks. We get a pretty decent rainstorm and then all of a sudden, whoomp. The water table must have been up significantly.”

He added that he thought if the town kept better maintenance on dead or damaged trees, the situation could have been avoided.

“It was the whole area – it wasn’t just our street  –  that was without power for so long,” said Katherine. “So everybody around here was playing the catch-up game.”

Still, local town officials said, overall, the effects of the storm were minimal.

The following is a list of impacted areas:

Bow

The town of Bow experienced no road closures, but several inconveniences due to the recent storm.

“I think we’re better off than some of the surrounding towns,” said Town Manager James Pitts.

“We certainly have some infrastructure damaged, primarily due to the edge of pavement being undermined and damaged, but overall, we’re not looking at large amounts of damage this time around.”

The town is still investigating the impact of the heavy rains, however.

Still, there were several barricades and signs for high water, though the affected roads – Route 3A, Grandview Road and Page Road, among other high-water areas – were still passable. 

Some roads had to have lanes narrowed because the edge of the pavement collapsed, said Pitts.

In addition, several areas of town went without power for a few hours, but were restored quickly, he said.

Hopkinton

In Hopkinton, Deputy Fire Chief John Pianka said, in terms of road closures, the recent storm may have been worse than last year’s May floods.

“We probably had probably 13 or 14 roads closed due to washouts,” said Pianka. “I think this year was a little worse than last year. Statistic-wise, maybe it wasn’t, but I think we’ve had more road closures and damage than last year.”

Other weather-related problems, said Pianka, were power outages and flooded basements, which he said kept the fire department busy all day Monday, April 16, and into the next day.

Dunbarton

Fire Chief Jon Wiggin said only two roads, County Road and Kimball Pond Road, were closed due to flooding.

“We had a lot of ditch damage and things like that, about 10 flooded basements that we responded to, and at one time, I think eight roads were down to one lane or had water running across,” said Wiggin. “Other than that, we fared pretty well.”

There were also scattered power outages in town, including at Dunbarton Elementary School.

Concord

Concord, like Bow, Dunbarton and Hopkinton, experienced some trees falling and power outages, but also experienced several road closings or flood water impacts.