'I Just Cry;' North Adams Homeowner Shows Storm Damage to Governor
 |
| Groves is using her third straight vacation day to stay in North Adams to keep the sump pump going and clean up water damage. |
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Michelle Groves has lived her whole life in her family's home on Church Street.
And she never has seen anything like she saw on Monday.
"I grew up here and never had anything flood, but then there was the sink hole on the top of the Hoosac Tunnel [in 2020], so they needed to figure out how to fix that. So they took a river, as far as I know, and rerouted that."
Even during 2011's Tropical Storm Irene, Groves said, the flooding was nothing like she saw from the deluge that began on Sunday.
On Wednesday afternoon, under sunny skies, Groves welcomed Gov. Maura Healey and other officials to her front lawn to look at the large patch of her land that washed down hill and onto Church Street during rain that impacted communities from New York's Hudson Valley into northern Vermont.
Groves said she splits time between North Adams and Lake Luzerne, N.Y., where she works in the medical supplies business.
On Wednesday, she recounted her experience when she came back to North Adams midday Monday.
"About 11, 11:30, all of a sudden, the water just started rushing through," Groves said.
"I drove two hours and got here, and I was checking things out and all of a sudden, whoosh, all the water just came through for hours and hours and hours," Groves told Healey.
"I was shocked when I came back and saw it," said Mayor Jennifer Macksey, who had checked on Groves' property earlier Monday morning.
Groves said there still is about 5 inches of water in her basement. She is using her third straight vacation day to stay in North Adams to keep the sump pump going and clean up water damage.
She told the governor that she was in "panic mode" when water rushing downhill came close to her home's foundation.
"I was freaking out, screaming, saying, 'There goes my house,' " Groves said.
Healey spent the morning touring Western Massachusetts sites hard hit by this week's storm. Her day started in Williamsburg before she turned her attention to North Adams, first visiting an area of State Street that washed out where a manhole failed.
Most of Healey's comments centered on big picture concerns about local aid for communities affected by the flood.
Groves was able to put a face to the crisis.
"I'm so sorry for the devastation that you've experienced," Healey said. "We want to do whatever we can to help out. It's been really important to come and see first hand the damage and devastation. And we'll continue to talk about what we need to do in terms of resources.
"But I'm sorry for what you've gone through. It's a terrible thing. A lot of stress."
As for the connection to the Hoosac Tunnel repairs three years ago, Macksey Tuesday acknowledged the presumption that work uphill related to the tunnel created stormwater issues downhill and said she was "gearing up for a big fight with the railroad."
"We haven't dug into that aspect other than we know the railroad was doing work up there," Macksey told the City Council at its Tuesday meeting. "We know about the rerouting of the brook. We've had conversations with the state about it.
"The railroad is not the easiest entity to work with."
Insurance companies can be just as troublesome for homeowners in times of crisis, and Groves said Wednesday it is uncertain how much of the damage to her property will be covered by her policy.
"The insurance company may or may not be able to help me out," she said.
"I go in [the house] and I look out here and I just cry. I just hope something can be done."
