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Rescue on the high seas of Somerville

By adamg on Tue, 12/09/2014 - 8:00pm
Man being rescued from flood waters in Somerville

Photo by Peter Morgan

Peter Morgan reports a Somerville police officer and a bystander teamed up to rescue a man trapped by rising flood waters in the Medford Street underpass in Union Square tonight.

At the time they helped him out of the car, water was up to his chest, with him sitting in driver's seat.

Not long after, Alexandra Sear photographed the man's car:

Medford Street in the rain
Neighborhoods: 
Somerville
Topics: 
Weather
Free tagging: 
Rain
Union Square


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Comments

By Jess on Tue, 12/09/2014 - 8:38pm.

Flooded T station?

By jaypee on Tue, 12/09/2014 - 8:48pm.

do people think they can ford deep waters in their cars?

By SwirlyGrrl on Tue, 12/09/2014 - 10:43pm.

That is the problem - some people don't realize how deeply flooded an area is until it is too late. This is especially true of tunnels, where there is no way to judge how flooded it is. I made that stupid mistake once going under Mass Ave on Memorial drive. I didn't get stuck, but only because I was driving an early model VW diesel and it still kept running and didn't have automatic anything and would work even when the electrical system crapped out. I was a stupid 18 year old who did a dumb thing but got really lucky.

Tonight I'm just thankful that I knew that this road was a potential problem and deliberately took routes home that avoided it and other known floody points. Knowing the floody points isn't something you can always rely on.

So glad that there are people out there who are willing to help like this, and everyone seems okay. There but for grace go I.

By anon on Wed, 12/10/2014 - 7:58am.

I err on the side of "if the car in front of me drove through it and it looked OK, go through; if there's no one in front and I don't know how deep it is, turn around"

By SwirlyGrrl on Wed, 12/10/2014 - 8:23am.

I just had to have a close call to learn that.

What I don't get: when there is already one car stuck down there and a second follows.

By Nat Rosevear on Tue, 12/09/2014 - 9:30pm.

Went by later, it looked like this: http://imgur.com/lQxnYiB

By Ron Newman on Wed, 12/10/2014 - 11:56am.

I wonder if they have anyone monitoring potential trouble spots like this one when we get heavy rains.

Another one to look out for is where Washington Street (Somerville) passes under the Lowell commuter rail tracks. And maybe also where northbound McGrath Highway tunnels under I-93 and Mystic Avenue.

By anon on Wed, 12/10/2014 - 7:59am.

Some areas have faded signs which say "this area is prone to flooding during heavy rain"

By lbb on Wed, 12/10/2014 - 9:43am.

Flooding like this usually happens pretty fast, but the idea of putting out a temporary "this floods, people" sign might be a good idea. But I thought everyone pretty much knew that these old-school underpasses flood at the first speckle of rain.

By Scratchie on Wed, 12/10/2014 - 9:51am.

Just like "everybody pretty much knows" that you don't drive trucks on Storrow Drive.

By Eric on Wed, 12/10/2014 - 6:27pm.

Pretty sure there are actual signs for that, which people ignore.

By mplo on Wed, 12/10/2014 - 7:37am.

The guy's lucky that he was rescued. What a mess it was last night!

The city should've just closed up that bridge and directed the traffic around it, somehow. It was a major mistake not to.

By ElizaLeila on Wed, 12/10/2014 - 9:45am.

This underpass is still closed as of this morning. Police vehicle blocking it with flashy lights.

Edited to add: possible sinkhole.

WHDH Reports: http://www.whdh.com/story/27592111/medford-street-underpass-closed-due-t...

NECN Reports: http://www.necn.com/news/new-england/Heavy-Rains-Open-Sinkhole-Cause-Flo...

By Scumquistador on Wed, 12/10/2014 - 11:01am.

in a time where the regular people and police arent necessarily getting along well its nice to see them team up to do something nice

By MatthewC on Thu, 12/11/2014 - 9:18am.

...and I get along with cops justfine.

By MatthewC on Thu, 12/11/2014 - 9:18am.

That cop should be investigated!

Sorry... I know I'm needlessly stirring the pot.

By Belle on Thu, 12/25/2014 - 10:14am.

What happened is that the guy just followed a car already on its way into the underpass. Both drivers thought what they saw was a big puddle. No way to know it was a sinkhole. Don't know why Somerville hasn't done real reconstruction instead of just patches. City must know it's a tragedy waiting to happen.