More Rain Expected Monday

BOSTON -- Portions of the Bay State continued to get lashed with rain Sunday, sending rivers spilling over their banks and flooding roads across the region and meteorologists said the rain will likely continue into at least the middle of the week.

StormTrak 5 meteorologist David Brown said areas across central, eastern and southern Massachusetts were under the gun for some periods of extremely heavy rain into the early part of the week.

Six counties in eastern and central Massachusetts remained under a flood warning Sunday night.

The National Weather Service said the warning covers Essex, Middlesex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Plymouth counties, as well as northern Worcester County.

Meteorologists said rainfall by Monday morning will range from 7 to 12 inches, with a few spots near 15 inches.

Parts of the North Shore were blasted Sunday, with Amesbury, Mass., recording more than 10 inches of rain and Methuen, Mass., logging 8 inches of rain. Cape Ann, Gloucester to Rockport, was getting very heavy bands of rain, all of it arcing from the southwest to the northeast, impacting most of Essex county.

The situation on the North Shore could possibly get worse through the night Sunday, with an additional 2 to 4 inches of rain expected to occur across Essex County. Several rivers were not expected to crest until at least Tuesday. Forecasts called for 8 to 14 inches of rain on the North Shore and some of the flooding may not end until Thursday or Friday, StormTrak 5 meteorologist Dick Albert said.

The National Weather Service forecasted record flooding conditions for rivers throughout the state, including the Spicket River in Methuen, which was expected to rise 2 feet above the flood level by Tuesday afternoon. The Merrimack River was expected to crest nearly 10 feet over flood stage by Monday afternoon.

Forecasters predicted the rain to continue through Tuesday and dump at least 5 more inches across eastern Massachusetts.

"This is the tip of the iceberg," MEMA spokesman Peter Judge said. "It's going to get worse."

To the south Sunday, there were embedded thunderstorms affecting parts of the south coast as well, and within some of the storms there was some very heavy rain between Martha's Vineyard and New Bedford.

The rainfall over the cape and the islands was beginning to break by afternoon Sunday, but was expected to pick up again on Monday night and Tuesday, heavy at times.

A number of roadways and basements were flooded, with small streams cresting and reaching near-flood stage. The 8 to 14 inches of rain totals in some areas were rivaling the flood totals reached during flooding in October 1996.

Forecasters were cautioning residents never to walk or drive through flooded areas and to check sump pumps and clear storm drains in flood-prone areas. Albert said 2 feet of moving water on a roadway can take cars downstream.

Flood warnings continue midnight Sunday and there continued to be the possibility of major to moderate flooding in the Merrimack River valley over the next 24 hours from Nashua to Lawrence, Lowell, Haverhill and Methuen and along the Shawsheen River. In Lawrence, the river should peak by midday Monday 8 feet over flood stage, and 6 feet over flood stage in Haverhill.

Boston saw more than 6 inches of rain from the weekend storm, marking the second wettest May on record, with more than 9 inches recorded so far this month. There were 13.3 inches of rain in May 1954.

Other storm totals included 10.5 inches in Andover, and 7.4 inches in Winthrop. Amesbury had 11.2 inches by late Sunday, and Ipswich and Gloucester both recorded about 9 inches. Methuen and Bevery both had more than 8 inches. Hingham had more than 5 inches and Millis recorded more than 4 inches.

National Weather Service forecasters were saying that many roads were already under water and closed across the North Shore, so travel was not recommended and was considered to be dangerous.

The rain will subside into showers on Monday then pick up again Monday night into early Tuesday. The temperatures will be between 48 to 55 degrees, cool and raw. Monday temperatures will be 47 to 54 degrees. Driver air was not expected to move in until at least Wednesday.