Somerville PD still shut down after weekend storm

SOMERVILLE, Mass. -- Crews who were working to clean up storm damage from Saturday’s storm in Somerville were struck with a second storm on Monday.

“All of a sudden it starts to rain, and it starts to pour again, i said ‘Oh my God, not another one,’” said Carlo Hansen, the owner of a business that was flooded by the storm.

Another sudden storm caused a giant portion of tree to come crashing down onto a company vehicle at Union Square.

“It just came down like boom, and in seconds it made a lot of damage,” said Luciano Pihno, who saw the tree come down.

In Swampscott, the second storm was a harsh reminder of two close calls over the weekend.

Firefighters needed a boat to rescue someone trapped in their car, and another call for help from a flooded family.

"There's a car caught in a flood with three little children and a mother in there, and she's panicking," said a caller.

"When we arrived the children had already been gotten out of the car by some neighbors, and the driver, apparently the children's mother was still in the car, and she was in the process of being taken out by those same bystanders," said Swampscott Fire Department Captain Graham Archer.

Meanwhile in Somerville, police cruisers have been replaced by cleanup crews and flood experts, who are tackling the damage that has temporarily shut the police headquarters down.

The headquarters remained closed after they received nearly three feet of water on Saturday, causing $1 million worth of damage.

“The biggest…right now is to make sure we have power to the building and the communication is restored, phone lines that were damaged are repaired or replaced,” said Somerville Police Deputy Chief Paul Upton.

The dispatchers have been working out of Everett because the flood destroyed their 911 server.

Somerville Police expect to be back in headquarters, courtesy of a mobile 911 center from the State Police, within a few days.

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