Remnants of Hurricane Ida flood Wareham

Sep 2, 2021

The remnants of Hurricane Ida — which devastated Louisiana and flooded New York — swept through Wareham on Wednesday night, flooding roads, yards, basements and washing out roadways. 

Rainfall totals varied across town, ranging from more than 5 inches to more than 7 inches.

Over the last 30 years, Wareham has received an average of 4.54 inches of rain in September, according to the National Weather Service — meaning the town got more than a month’s worth of rain in just one night.

Wareham was under a tornado warning from about 11:20 p.m. Wednesday night until just after midnight, when conditions changed. A tornado touched down in Dennis.  

School openings were delayed by two hours on Thursday to allow people to make their way in safely.

Assistant Wareham Fire Chief John Kelley said that the department got a number of calls about water in roadways and rising water levels in ponds. He said that town officials from fire, emergency response and the police department met to prepare for the storm.

A dam in the cranberry bog system near Rosebrook Place collapsed, leading to flooding that necessitated closing that road for a period of time.  

An 8-foot section of Blissful Lane in Shangri-La washed out, with about a 10-foot hole under the roadway. Kelley said that part of Little Brook Road, located in an industrial park in West Wareham, also washed out.

Around 11 a.m., Bob Holtgren was stationed in the middle of a huge puddle of standing water in the Decas School parking lot. He’d been there pumping it out since about 6 a.m., when he said the puddle was “a little bigger.”

Holtgren noted that the parking lot hadn’t experienced much flooding since the town upgraded the storm drains some years ago, but “we had so much rain, it couldn’t keep up,” he said.

Dave Silva, who lives next door to a closed and now overgrown cranberry bog on Fearing Hill Road, said the bog flooded and overflowed early Thursday morning, flooding his whole yard. He said the only time he’s seen worse flooding was when there were six consecutive days of rain.

Harbormaster Garry Buckminster said that in Shangri-La, a large portion of the main beach washed out into the pond. 

Several boats sank, he said. Buckminster recommended boat owners check their vessels.

All shellfishing across the state has been closed until further notice, Buckminster said.

He noted that several dirt roads across town washed out.