Photo: Chaiel Schaffel/WBZ NewsRadio
LEOMINSTER, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — On Sept. 11, 2023, an enormous flood changed Leominster forever.
"A year ago at 4:00 in the afternoon, everything was fine; an hour later, complete devastation for a lot of people," Mayor Dean Mazzarella told WBZ NewsRadio Wednesday.
Extreme flooding from nearly a foot of rain formed sinkholes in roads, washed away homes, destroyed sidewalks, and left the city with quite the mess to clean up.
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One year later, Leominster is still cleaning up.
"Walls that have caved in, there are still some houses that are vacant," described Mazzarella.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency originally denied both public and individual aid for Leominster in February. Gov. Maura Healey appealed the decision and individual assistance was approved in May, but assistance for public property remained denied.
Mazzarella told WBZ NewsRadio that Leominster still has $30 million in damages to city infrastructure, including roads that are only temporarily drivable.
"It’s safe to drive over some of these roads and bridges, but it’s not permanent," Mazzarella said.
Without FEMA's help to cover the cost of those repairs, the plan is to cobble together other grants to pay for them.
"What we realized is, you’re on your own for a little while," said Mazzarella. "And you do the best you can, you put in, but you better have another plan."
His best guess is that everything should be fixed in the next two-and-a-half years.
"It may have faded from outside, but it didn’t fade from us. We live it every day," Mazzarella said.
WBZ’s Chaiel Schaffel (@CSchaffelWBZ) reports.
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