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The Great Roslindale Sewage Flood of 1996

Deadly Sins is a WGBH show that highlights storytellers. This week's episode features an account by Ashley Rose, who grew up in Roslindale, at least until her Delford Street house was flooded by raw sewage from a busted sewer main and then condemned, in 1996. Her story starts at about 9:26.

Residents spent nine years battling the MWRA and the BWSC over what became known as Boston's Love Canal.

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I watched this last night. She's a really good story teller. I never knew this happened despite living 3 miles away.

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....and I LIVED in Roslindale in '96 (but not near Archdale.)

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If I recall correctly, this happened during the storm where the Muddy River flowed down the Riverside tunnel and into Kenmore Station.

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I remember that storm. It was in October. I had water flowing like a stream into my basement. There were fist fights at Home Depot over Quickcrete and sump pumps.

And yes, Kenmore Sq. station was flooded, about 12 feet. The water line reached the fourth or fifth step from the bottom. For many years after, you could still see the water mark in the station, WAY up towards the ceiling.

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I remember that flood. I went to the Fenway to photograph the event. The reason the Kenmore tunnel got flooded was because the grating on the culvert got clogged with debris and backed up the muddy river which overflowed it's banks and flooded into the riverside tunnel.

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The millbrook in Arlington went up and onto the Minuteman Bike path ... which worked until that went over a bridge ...

Bad water and flooding everywhere. The Mystic jumped its banks. My son's baby pictures, taken at the Arlington Reservoir a couple of days before, ended up being entered in legal hearings over whether the reservoir had been drained ahead of the rains.

One of the many downsides of combined sewer overflows is backflows. Yecch. A lot of places in Boston got sewage in the basements.

Maine had it far worse - over 19 inches of rain in three days.

Here's what caused it all: https://pubs.usgs.gov/wri/1997/4189/report.pdf

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n/t

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I looked for this last night but didn't see it on any of the channel 2 stations or 44 variants (I don't have cable).

Can anyone tell me exactly what channel it was on? As in 2-1, 2-2, 2-3...

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