'It Could Have Been Worse' Little Solace For Peabody Residents

PEABODY, MA -- Sunday's storm dumped 7.8 inches of rain in Peabody and caused widespread flooding. But the deluge wasn't nearly as bad as it was in other area towns, setting up a debate on social media that tried to answer one question: How effective were recent efforts -- and spending -- by the city to offer better flood control? The answers tended to reflect how hard hit the poster was by yesterday's storm.

"I thought they spent all that money...[so] there wouldn't be any more flooding," one poster griped on sunday afternoon to Moving Peabody Forward, a closed Facebook group for Peabody residents. "Fooled all of us."

In 2006, former Mayor Michael Bonfanti estimated flooding caused by storms like Sunday's in 1996, 1998, 2001, 2004 and 2006 had cost Peabody businesses $130 million in repair costs and lost economic opportunity. Much of the pain was felt in downtown Peabody, where flooding was a routine occurrence. In 2013, the city undertook a $20 million, five-year plan to install two culverts under Peabody Square to carry more flood water into the North River.

Lynnfield, Walnut and Foster Streets, among others, were hardest hit Sunday, but the original poster eventually conceded even the best designed sewer system would have had trouble keeping up with yesterday's downpour., noting that Peabody lies five feet below sea level, so there was little chance the city wouldn't experience areas of flooding once high tide hit Sunday afternoon.

In a lengthy post, Moving Peabody Forward administrator Keith Doucette thanked city workers and officials for their work on Sunday and their efforts over the past five years to improve flood mitigation, noting water that would have taken days to clear several years ago was mostly gone within a few hours after the rain stopped on Sunday. But he also conceded those facts were little consolation for people leaving angry posts on the forum in between sessions of cleaning up flooded basements.

"I understand the feeling when your property floods, when your furnace is 2 feet below water, when your washer and dryer are floating in the basement. I understand when your 52-inch TV has only be touched by an inch of water but it is ruined. Moreover, I understand the fear of will we get it all dry, how long before I might get mold, and worse off all when will it happen again," Doucette wrote. To "all of you people who tried to make the people complaining about the flood, the City or the City Workers, into these hateful people, I have to say you’re not helping by telling someone that has 5 feet of water in their backyard or 6 feet of water in their basement, they are lucky this would have been worse years ago or look what happened in Lynn."

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Photo by Jenna Fisher/Patch.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).