The slow-moving nor'easter that began pelting rain and wind across Cape Ann on Saturday — overcharging the island's watershed, whipping up a froth of steep, white seawater at the coast, and flooding streams, yards and even some homes — was still pouring down and blowing last night.
And local public works officials are hoping for some relief today.
More than 7 inches had fallen by 5 p.m., and a bit more was predicted overnight before the storm moves on, according to National Weather Service. Alternative readings had counted between 8 and 10 inches of rain by 8 o'clock last night.
The official 7.22 inches so far made the storm the wettest since the epic Mother's Day event of 2006, which produced about 13 inches.
Gloucester Public Works Director Mike Hale said the main concern during such events was the capacity of the sewer treatment plant to continue working, and so far so good, he said.
"It was pretty maxed out since (Sunday) morning," Hale said of the city's facilities. The plant can process 3.3 million gallons of wastewater a day. And, since Sunday, it had been dealing with 15 million gallons — nearly five times capacity.
The excess that the plant couldn't handle was released into the harbor from the combined sewer overflow pipes that were designed decades ago to deal with such events. The city is in the expensive process of eliminating the combination system that merges runoff with raw sewage, under a court order.
Hale said Magnolia Avenue at the railroad overpass in West Gloucester was still closed last night due to street flooding.
The Babson Reservoir Dam, which had been drained to 28 percent of capacity for reconstruction of the gatehouse, filled to overflowing by afternoon yesterday.
The spillway which was flooded over in the series of storms from spring 2006 was just topped a bit, Hale said. He also noted that the city has rediscovered a release drain buried in the bottom of the reservoir that allows the city to control the level at the top if necessary.
Mayor Carolyn Kirk said Hale deserves credit for getting many storm drains cleaned out, allowing the flood waters to drain out and keeping many streets that typically have flooded from doing so again.
"This is a big event," said Hale. "Four or more inches is an amazing amount given the impervious nature of the city (built on a granite outcrop)."
He said watersheds all over the city will be flooded for at least 24 hours and some for a few days.
"We could use a few dry days and some wind to dry things out," he said.
A small number of trees were uprooted in the supersaturated soil, but perhaps because of the winter tropical storm that blasted through on Feb. 25, felling hundreds of old growth trees, there were few new reports of losses in the arbors.
"I'm ready for it to be over," said Hale.
Today's forecast calls for temperatures in the high 30s — and mostly sunny skies.
Richard Gaines can be reached at 978-283-7000, x3464, or rgaines@gloucestertimes.com.
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