Western Massachusetts floods have left 'real, true devastation' for some, Healey says
WILLIAMSBURG - The small town of Williamsburg is one of nearly a dozen that has declared a local state of emergency after severe floods hit western Massachusetts earlier this week.
The water has now receded, but assessing the damage it caused has only begun.
Flood waters hit with such force Monday that it trapped Nan Hill and her husband inside their Ashfield Road home, eroding the ground around it.
"We're fine, the house is fine but when it's happening, you don't know," said Hill. "You have no idea where it's going to end."
The vegetation was completely flattened along the Mill River as it rose a couple feet higher than normal.
"Like a literal flash flood. It went from zero to 180 in about, I don't know, 25 minutes," Hill told WBZ-TV. "It was dramatic."
First responders had to take them out by boat as she grabbed just a few essentials.
"I wouldn't want to evacuate like that again. I had enough time to throw computer, password book, wallet, phone, and a plastic bag and a change of clothes and that was it," Hill said.
Her neighbor Ernie Zuraw is still cleaning out the muck that the rising waters brought around and inside his home. The house is designed so water can flow beneath it - not through it. He told WBZ the force of the water was so strong it moved his cast iron lawn chairs.
"For a small community, it's a lot to absorb," said Williamsburg Deputy Fire Chief Daryl Springman. "We have to make sure residents are set, buildings are safe and have to rebuild."
Governor Maura Healey visited Williamsburg and other hard-hit communities Wednesday promising to help.
"I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that we're maximizing dollars that we can use towards recovery and mitigation for residents and for businesses here in western Massachusetts," Healey told reporters.
"I am so sorry for the problems, the pain, the people are experiencing. Some have experienced real, true devastation in terms of loss of crops, loss of livelihood, potential loss of jobs," the governor said. "We're going to have to rebuild and recover."
