State leaders discuss flood concerns, immense damages in Northampton

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) – Governor Maura Healey and others focus attention on flood damage here in western Massachusetts, one of the harder hit communities is Northampton where high floodwaters have washed out roads, closed down beaches and caused tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of damage.

Route 5 in Northampton is closed down after flood waters took over the road, but that’s not all, folks we spoke with today told Western Mass News about the damage the floods have dealt to them over the past two days. This as Governor Healey came to see the destruction for herself.

“You can see what’s happened in terms of erosion and what that has done, you can see the flooding,” said Gov. Healey. “I know we’ve had a couple days where water has receded but there’s still very high.”

In Williamsburg on Wednesday, Governor Maura Healey got a first hand look and updates from the ground after flood water raced through western Massachusetts this week.

In neighboring Northampton, some areas are still completely underwater.

Check out Old Springfield Road. It now resembles a small stream with two feet of water from the Connecticut River invading the road.

“We’ve had flooding, but never like this since I’ve been here,” said Molly Kuseck of Northampton.

Molly Kuseck who lives on the road told Western Mass News just how high flood waters rose.

“We had about 18 inches of water in the basement at the most, we lost two big trees in the yard,” said Kuseck. “To be honest, I haven’t really gone down that way. I’m just focusing on what’s in front of me at the house. We’ve had lots of flooding, the water at one point was all through the driveway, up to the porch.”

Also shut down parts of Route 5 due to water spilling over from the Connecticut River.

Across the city, Musante Beach is littered with no swimming signs.

The city of Northampton posted on Facebook, due to the flood waters overflowing the waterways, bacteria levels may be too high to safely swim.

State Senator Joanne Comerford told Western Mass News the destruction will cost millions of dollars to repair.

“This is the impact of a natural disaster in a community like ours, a rural community,” expressed Comerford. “Our cities and towns are responding, and our farmers and businesses are disproportionately affected.”

The people we spoke with said as of right now, it’s a wait and see situation. With more rain in the forecast over the next couple days, they’re afraid there is still more damage to come.

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