When the Charles Floods

 Historic Floods:

1938 - This year held a historic flood event for the Charles in the summer and then 2 months later the famous 1938 New England Hurricane caused a second wave of massive damage and flooding.

I found a local TV special about this hurricane where people who lived through the storm told the story decades later. I am from Florida and no stranger to hurricanes, but living through a storm like that without modern weather prediction or news technology to give warning is terrifying.

Documentary Source: NBC 10 WJAR 

1955 - Hurricanes Connie and Diane are two storms that came a week apart in August 1955. Both caused huge damage to New England. Diane left 20 inches of rain in two days and especially severe flooding.

Image Source: NOAA and National Weather Service

March 2010 - The most significant recent flood was in March of 2010 when a slow moving storm dropped up to 10 inches of rain over three days. 

Image Source: NOAA 

Future Flooding:

In my last post, I mentioned the work by the Charles River Watershed Association and the Charles River Climate Compact to make plans for the projected 78% increase in participation over 50 years from Climate Change. The following map is a model for what flooring for a 10 year storm could look like by the year 2070. The darker blue areas represent water levels 8 feet and above normal.

Image Source: Charles River Watershed Association

This map was created by the compact and is the first step for planning ways to mitigate the impacts of severe weather. You can find the Model HERE. I encourage anyone interested to take a look and model various storms. You are able to model past storms such as Hurricane Ida and map out public utilities and critical services.