Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

The Pawtuxet River in Cranston has already surpassed its flood stage of 9 feet, according to the National Weather Service, with waters at 10.4 feet at 9:30 a.m. The service described it as minor flooding, with moderate flooding forecast.

At greatest risk, the National Weather Service says, are homes and businesses on Wellington Avenue and Avery Road in Cranston and Pioneer Avenue, Bellows Street, Venturi Avenue and a portion of River Street in Warwick.

The Blackstone River in Woonsocket was near its flood stage of 9 feet at 9:39 a.m., and it was expected to surpass that by late morning, rising to nearly 11 feet.

Flooding was spreading across most of the lower parking area of the Albion mill apartments. It was also expected to overspread lowest lying sections of Lonsdale in Cumberland.

Check river conditions around the region.

Wet roads also slowed the morning commute for drivers in the Ocean State. Elsewhere, the commute was awful especially in parts of the East Bay where a park-and-ride lot in Barrington and intersections in Bristol were a foot under water.

Commuters trying to drive through Bristol were hit with a double whammy.

As commonly happens during heavy rains and high tides in the community bordering Narragansett Bay, Route 114 by Guiteras School and Silver Creek was flooded. The water was nearly two feet deep on this stretch of road, just north of the town center, said Police Lt. Steve Contente.

But compounding the problem was a traffic detour on Route 136 caused by a National Grid utility pole leaning into the roadway.

"We only have two main arteries through town," Contente said. As a result, "We had gridlock. This is a bad one."

It was so bad, the Bristol Warren Regional School District cautioned families of students who didn't arrive on time to simply stay home. Most students made it to school, said Supt. Edward P. Mara.

The police notified Mara about the flooding problems at 6 a.m. At 8:45 a.m., Mara sent out a message to all parents through the district's automated phone system that any children who weren't already on a bus to school should stay home.

In downtown Providence, Waterplace Park was, well, full of water.

The walkway running under Memorial Boulevard, past the Wall of Hope, was covered by about two feet of water this morning.

Workers used to passing through the walkway, under the boulevard, instead had to cross the busy road. With the bottom steps of a stairway leading to the road under water, two young women climbed over a railing and hurried to work.

Mike Bonin, heading to work at Tofia's, an accounting and consulting firm across Memorial Boulevard on Exchange Terrace, said he'd never seen the water in Waterplace Park so high, and then he turned and walked the other way, finding a new route to the office.

Winds of 25 to 35 mph. with stronger gusts knocked down trees in South County and tore through a Santa display on Candlewood Drive in North Kingstown, but caused even bigger problems for thousands of businesses and residences throughout Rhode Island.

About 5,000 National Grid customers in Rhode Island and another 15,000 to 20,000 in southern New England lost power this morning when a storm brought heavy rain and wind into the region, according to a National Grid spokesman.

The problems in Rhode Island were scattered throughout the state, according to David Graves, a spokesman for National Grid.

Among the areas hit was a part of Riverside that lost power when wind blew down small branches and even a tree, which bocked Willette Avenue near the Dunkin Donuts. Power will still out as of 8:35 a.m.

In Barrington, power went out on Adams Point about 7:45 a.m. and is remained out as of 11:15 a.m.

In southeastern Massachusetts, 15,000 to 20,000 customers in Attleboro, Fall River, Swansea and Seekonk lost power, according to Graves.

Graves could not provide an update on how many customers had gotten power back.

National Grid is dealing with bigger problems to the north of Rhode Island, where ice and freezing rain caused wide spread power problems.

"New England-wide, we're dealing with 295,000 people without service right now," Graves said.