Massachusetts
Another storm approaching: Flood watch, high wind warning issued in Massachusetts
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/PKWAFTOXG5A73NLCDTITQYR4EY.jfif?ssl=1 "Another storm approaching: Flood watch, high wind warning issued in Massachusetts")
DEDHAM, Mass. — Flood watches and a high wind warning have been issued for Massachusetts as another storm takes aim at the region after many communities were buried by more than a foot of snow on Sunday.
The Boston 25 Weather team has issued a Weather Alert for Tuesday evening into Wednesday with snow, heavy rain, flooding, and damaging wind gusts in the forecast.
This approaching system will arrive on the heels of a major weather event that prompted winter storm warnings and blanketed the region in snow.
Precipitation will arrive between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. Tuesday ahead of the evening commute as an initial burst of snow at elevations, Spear said in her latest forecast.
“Even though it will be washed away by heavy rain, the evening commute could be quite slippery in parts of central Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire,” Boston 25 Meteorologist Spear wrote in her weather blog. “Only a coating to a few inches will fall before rain comes along.”
By 10 p.m., the snow will shift over totally to drenching rainfall, according to Spear.
“It’s going to pour overnight into Wednesday morning,” Spear said. “The heaviest rain goes probably to about 5 a.m. to 7 a.m.”
The National Weather Service has issued a flood watch for Franklin, Hampden, Middlesex, Essex, Hampshire, Norfolk, Plymouth, Bristol, Worcester, Berkshire, and Suffolk counties through Wednesday morning.
In a statement, the NWS said, “Excessive rainfall of between two the three inches falling Tuesday Night into Wednesday morning in combination with snowmelt may result in rapid stream and river rises. Snow-clogged drains may also contribute to the flood risk in poor drainage and urban areas.”
A coastal flood watch is also in effect for Barnstable, Dukes, Essex, Norfolk, Plymouth, Bristol, Nantucket, and Suffolk counties.
As you shovel out, don’t forget to clear snow, ice & debris from any storm drains/downspouts near your property to allow water to flow through.
Another high-impact storm expected tomorrow night is forecast to bring heavy rain, which combined with snowmelt may lead to flooding. pic.twitter.com/HrnSMNPB2s
— MEMA (@MassEMA) January 8, 2024
The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency reminded residents to clear snow, ice, and debris from storm drains and downspouts near their property to allow water to flow through.
Last fall, many cities and towns saw extreme flooding, like in Leominster where basements were underwater, cars were stalled on roads and parking lots, and yards turned into lakes. Some homes were even on the verge of falling into sinkholes.
The NWS issued a high wind warning for Barnstable, Dukes, Essex, Plymouth, Nantucket, Bristol, and Berkshire counties.
A wind advisory is also in effect for Middlesex, Hamden, Franklin, Hampshire, Norfolk, Worcester, Suffolk, and Essex counties.
Wind gusts of 50 to 70 mph are possible in the impacted areas from Tuesday evening through Wednesday afternoon.
“Because of these strong winds, you can see an elevated risk for power outages Tuesday night into Wednesday, especially along the coastline,” Spear said.
A second Weather Alert is in the upcoming seven-day forecast for Saturday, with more rain and wind expected.
For more on Tuesday’s storm, visit the Boston 25 Weather page for updates.
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RANDOLPH, Mass. (WWLP) – A Randolph resident has won a $1 million prize through the final drawing of the Massachusetts State Lottery “$4,000,000 Monopoly Doubler” instant ticket game.
Brenda Mellor of Randolph claimed the game’s tenth and final $1 million prize.
She selected the cash option and received a one-time payment of $650,000 before taxes. Mellor said she plans to use the winnings to pay for home improvements, including renovations to her roof and pool.
The winning ticket was purchased at The Variety Store at 2 Mazzeo Drive in Randolph. The retailer will receive a $10,000 bonus for selling the ticket.
Local News Headlines
WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Download the 22News Plus app on your TV to watch live-streaming newscasts and video on demand.
Massachusetts
Mass. is getting more granny flats. But it’s still hard to build them. – The Boston Globe
Massachusetts took a big step in 2024 when the Legislature legalized so-called “accessory dwelling units” statewide as part of an effort to rein in the state’s housing crisis. More than a year later, it’s clear that the law is working — but that it also needs tweaks before accessory units can meet their full potential.
These small units, nicknamed “granny flats,” can be constructed in someone’s backyard, or they can simply be renovated third floors, garages, or basements. They’re a popular option for seniors seeking to downsize and families looking for some rental income.
Prior to the state law, some communities allowed accessory units, but many did not. Even among those cities and towns that did tolerate accessory dwelling units, zoning often varied from one municipality to the next, making it difficult for builders who needed to decode each municipality’s rules. Some towns also included unreasonable restrictions, like requiring that only a homeowner’s family members could live in the accessory units.
Housing advocates viewed allowing accessory dwelling units statewide as a “low-hanging fruit” policy — a way to add housing that was relatively cheap and avoided some of the cost and political obstacles that housing measures often encounter. The state legislation also overrode some zoning restrictions, including those that limited accessory units to family, while leaving some other local rules intact.
One year after the law went into effect, this approach has proved fruitful: Towns across the state have approved 1,200 ADU permits and seen even more applications, in some cases up to a threefold increase from previous years.
A study published last week by Boston Indicators (the research branch of the Boston Foundation) and Abundant Housing Massachusetts found that forcing the hand of municipalities on accessory dwelling units accomplished more in one year than 50 years of zoning reform efforts at the local level.
The problem, though, is that municipalities retained too much power. As the study recommends, there should be clear, uniform state regulatory standards for ADUs, with minimal opportunities for municipal-level variation.
“A comprehensive agenda is needed to address regulatory barriers to housing production, spanning building, fire, energy, septic system, wetlands, and stormwater rules,” the study’s authors wrote. “The barriers include the fragmented complexity of the regulatory system itself.”
Making standards more uniform doesn’t have to mean lowering them — it just means moving away from patchwork rules that make it harder for companies to build accessory units at scale.
Chris Lee at Backyard ADUs, a company that designs and builds modular dwelling units in New England, says the report’s findings make sense. The inconsistent interpretations across 350 towns and cities cause builders and engineers to “struggle to design work for the town that will be accepted,” he said. (The state’s 351st municipality, Boston, isn’t covered by the law.)
The potential is significant. The report calculates that if just 2 percent of single-family homes in Massachusetts added an accessory unit, the state would see more than 30,000 new homes that advocates say are generally more affordable. Building an accessory dwelling unit inside a pre-existing house can cost between $75,000 and $100,000; and a detached unit usually runs between $250,000 to $350,000, making them much more affordable than purchasing a single-family home in most regions of the country.
“For developers of missing middle housing to benefit from an economy of scale, they have to undertake many projects, across jurisdictional lines,” according to the study. “The ADU case study has shown just how challenging this is.”
Lee estimated that he could reduce up to $30,000 of preconstruction costs such as surveying and architecture if his company could work with consistent regulations across towns, which he said could enable them to double their production.
Streamlining permitting for accessory dwelling units isn’t a panacea. Landlords still must be willing to actually build them and rent them to long-term residents. Retirees must believe it’s worth downsizing to one. But the fact that so many have been permitted over the last year point to the clear demand and makes the case for policy makers to keep refining the law.
There is precedent. California, for example, had an equally ambitious goal but has blown past it, going from only 1,300 permits approved its first year to more than 30,000 nine years later. “It is important to understand that California did not accomplish its ADU outcomes with one legislative reform,” the study’s authors wrote. “California’s success required sustained legislative attention.”
Massachusetts should be able to realize those kinds of results too. Conversely, if even the “low-hanging fruit” of zoning reform falters in the Commonwealth because of local red tape, then the state has bigger problems ahead to solve its housing crisis.
Editorials represent the views of the Boston Globe Editorial Board. Follow us @GlobeOpinion.
Massachusetts
Meteor over Massachusetts causes explosion reports, sightings from Delaware to Montreal
Reports of an explosion from people across New England Saturday afternoon sent police agencies and others scrambling to understand what caused a double boom that shook buildings in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
The American Meteor Society said that the booms heard about 2:30 p.m. were actually caused by a meteor about 3 feet (nearly 1 meter) wide entering the atmosphere around the New Hampshire border with Massachusetts, north of Boston.
Fire program monitor Robert Lunsford said the society received dozens of reports from Delaware to Montreal with people either hearing the double boom, feeling the ground shake or seeing the fireball — which he said looked like a shooting star in the daytime sky.
“It was definitely bigger than a normal fireball, about a yard wide,” he said.
But Lunsford said it’s unlikely the meteor struck the ground.
“We would need more information about the trajectory the speed and other aspects to know for sure if it hit the ground, but if it didn’t burn up, then it would have landed in the ocean,” he said. “Most of them do burn up before they hit the ground.”
People in a handful of states posted on social media about feeling the buildings they were in shaking. Several videos on the X platform captured what sounded like two quick booms, with no fire, smoke or other visual causes.
Several people filed reports with the U.S. Geological Survey, registering the shaking they felt with the National Earthquake Information Center, agency spokesman Steve Sobie confirmed.
The agency opened an event page, based on the number of “Did you feel it?” reports it received on its website. But Sobie said there was no event registered on the agency’s seismographs. meaning the shaking was not due to an earthquake.
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