As another day of cleanup passes, Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella said on Thursday during a press conference at least five houses were left uninhabitable due to Monday’s floods, with over 100 homes damaged.
Speaking with reporters at the Leominster Emergency Management building, he said that schools — with their two-hour delayed opening — was smooth and went off “without a hitch,” and students “were happy to be in school.”
As of Thursday morning, the mayor said that another delayed start for schools on Friday was possible, but he would have to speak with Leominster Public Schools Superintendent Paula Deacon first. An update is expected to be released in the afternoon.
In providing relief to the community, Mazzerella said the focus is now geared toward the loss of the bridge at Exchange Street, leaving the three homes in the area without a clear route to exit the neighborhood. The plan is to build a temporary road nearby for those residents to have access to the rest of the area.
Some homeowners who never saw a drop of water in their basements found them flooded on Tuesday, Mazzarella said. The next phase to allow people with water-damaged items, excluding appliances, to dump them by Doyle Field over the weekend. This opportunity will be open to people despite more rain from Hurricane Lee expected to drench the state on Saturday.
The Leominster Flood Relief Fund has also been accumulating donations, Mazzarella said. He did not specify how much it has received, but he said that the elderly will receive financial help first.
Looking toward Friday, the mayor said that restaurants that remained closed are expected to reopen “Friday night.” Businesses have remained open, he said, wanting to assure people outside of Leominster that the city was “not one big sinkhole.”
Even with 52 tons of sandbags at the ready and with more construction efforts about to begin, Mazzarella cautioned about Saturday’s weather.
“We don’t need this next storm, it’s the least of what we need right now,” he said. “But we can’t change that. next week’s weather looks better, but the ground is saturated. That makes for tough working conditions when you’re sinking into the ground.”
