As Boston digs out from Thursday’s blizzard that dumped over a foot of snow and led to its worst flooding in 40 years, it was faced with another weather headache – single-digit temperatures that created rivers of ice water and trapped a number of cars.
Images from Boston on Friday show cars stuck in frozen floodwaters that reach up to the hoods in some cases.
Some car owners tried to prepare for the storm by lifting their windshield wipers and opening their trunks so that they wouldn’t be buried under snow and frozen.
But it is unlikely they anticipated that the cars would be done in by floodwaters.
One amateur video filmed in Revere, Massachusetts, the coastal city just north of Boston, showed a large sheet of ice covering the street.
According to The Boston Globe, about 20 residents needed to be evacuated from their homes. Some of them were rescued by high-water vehicles deployed by the National Guard.
As Boston digs out from Thursday’s blizzard that dumped over a foot of snow and led to its worst flooding in 40 years, it was faced with another weather headache – single-digit temperatures that created rivers of ice water and trapped a number of cars
One amateur video filmed in Revere, Massachusetts, the coastal city just north of Boston, showed a large sheet of ice covering the street
According to The Boston Globe , about 20 residents needed to be evacuated from their homes. Some of them were rescued by high-water vehicles deployed by the National Guard
Overnight, the low temperature in Boston could reach -1, with wind chills of -35 in some places
Sixty cars were damaged after high tides flooded the parking lot of a high school in Gloucester, The Boston Globe reported.
The frigid temperatures – Boston’s high was only 15 degrees on Friday – will continue to blanket the area for the next 48 hours.
Overnight, the low temperature could reach -1, with wind chills of -35 in some places.
That’s balmy compared to the -100 wind chill that can be felt on Mount Washington, the highest peak in the Northeast United States.
The winter storm has claimed the lives of nearly two dozen Americans, according to the New York Daily News.
In Virginia, a nine-year-old girl who was sledding while visiting relatives was struck and killed by a pickup truck.
Also in Virginia, a 75-year-old man was hit and killed by a snowplow while clearing snow from parking lots.
According to the National Weather Service, Boston broke the record for the highest ever recorded tide on Thursday.
Benjamin Sipprell, a meteorologist in Boston for the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, told the Daily Beast that the flooding was a result of the blizzard hitting at high tide, and the high tide being higher than usual due to Wednesday’s supermoon.
A supermoon is a full moon that occurs when the moon is closest to Earth in its orbit. This happens about four to six times a year.
Boston suffered its worst flooding in 40 years on Thursday as the city was hit by Winter Storm Grayson. Above, a car driving through floodwaters in the suburb of Lynn
Experts say that a reason the flooding was so bad was because the storm hit at high tide, which was higher than usual due to Wednesday’s supermoon (seen above in Wells, England)
A wave crashes over homes on Lighthouse Rd. in Scituate, Massachusetts on Thursday as a massive winter storm begins to bear down on the region
Boston experienced historic flooding on Thursday, after a ‘bomb cyclone’ winter storm hit the Northeast, causing travel chaos across the region, but officials have predicted that the aftermath may be deadlier than the storm
The tides are caused by the moon’s orbit, and are at their highest during full moons. Supermoons bring them even higher.
‘Normal tides in Boston are between 9 and 10 feet,’ Sipprell explained. ‘When we get tides, we get some that go up to 12 feet or more. We were forecasting 12.1 feet with this one, but with the surge, it got bumped up to 15 feet.
‘It’s definitely historic.’
It ended up being a disastrous combination when Winter Storm Grayson hit the city right at high ride – flooding the Seaport district in waist deep freezing water.
It was the first time that the city had seen such flooding since the blizzard of 1978.
The situation was even worse in the coastal towns of Plum Island and Scituate.
While most people have kept their eyes on Winter Storm Grayson, the National Weather Service has predicted ‘life-threatening’ cold overnight Friday and Saturday for much of the Northeast. Above, a car in floodwaters in Boston on Thursday
In the next 24 hours, the Northeast will be sent into a deep freeze that could cause roads and streets to be covered with a sheet of snow and ice for days. Above, more cars in floodwaters in Boston on Thursday
A woman watches as ocean waves overtop the seawall during a winter snow storm in the Boston suburb of Lynn, Massachusetts on Thursday
Firefighter Justin Plaza pulls a rescued motorist to dry land, in Boston, Massachusetts on Thursday
The floodwaters were thigh-deep on this stretch of road in Boston on Thursday
Firefighter’s on dry land help man out of zodiac boat, in Boston, Massachusetts on Thursday
The intense flooding (left) trapped some Boston residents inside buildings. Meanwhile one video showed the moment a garbage bin was knocked over as trash was washed down the street by floodwaters in Boston
On Plum Island, the high tide washed out a road connecting the barrier island to the town of Newburyport and residents had to be rescued by a National Guard high-water vehicle.
In Scituate, a town on Boston’s South Shore, waves crashed over beachside homes
However, he says the biggest component of all in the flooding was the storm itself.
‘The storm was the biggest thing of all,’ he noted. ‘The combination of the Arctic air mass surging south and the subtropical air mass going north [along with] the massive deepening low [pressure] means that we were going to deal with coastal flooding.’
There was also another component that others were blaming the flooding on – global warming.
The Boston Fire Department shared an image on Twitter of crew members saving a man whose car was floating in the ice water
‘Firefighters come to the rescue of an adult male trapped by rising water,’ the dept. tweeted. ‘The firefighters… bringing the driver to safety. Please avoid these dangerously high waters.’ The first responders were then seen carrying the man (pictured) to safety
Boston firefighters work at the scene of flooding from Boston Harbor on Long Wharf in Boston on Thursday
Boston firefighters wade through a street flooded from tidal surge during Storm Grayson in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., January 4, 2018
One Boston resident shared a Snapchat video of someone kayaking through their icy street with a kayak. The video was captioned: ‘Cai has fled the scene via kyak’
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh was quick to blame climate change.
‘If anyone wants to question global warming, just see where the flood zones are. Those zones didn’t flood 30 years ago,’ he said Thursday.
And some exerts agree. Richard Alley, a sociologist at Penn State, told the Daily Beast that the sea level has been rising because of ‘human-caused warming’.
‘Most of the high water in Boston and elsewhere along the East Coast is from the wind, but a little bit of extra flooding can be traced to the ocean starting out higher that it was in the past,’ he said.
Additionally, warmer seas cause more powerful storms.
Now that the storm has passed, the worst isn’t even over for Boston yet. The storm has been followed by a blast of Arctic Air that’s expect to keep temperatures well below freezing this weekend.
That means that if the flooding isn’t cleaned up fast, it could freeze over and cause even more of a problem in the coming days.
The Weather Channel on-camera meteorologist Jim Cantore stands at the Sandy Bay Yacht club as he reports on severe weather in Rockport, Massachusetts
Lighthouse Road in Scituate, Massachusetts begins to flood as a massive winter storm begins to bear down on the region on Thursday
Above, another view of water crashing over homes in Scituate, Massachusetts on Thursday
On Plum Island, Massachusetts (left and right), residents were evacuated when a road connecting the island to Newburyport washed out. Residents were evacuated with a National Guard high-water vehicle
There was also significant flooding around the Plum Island Beachcoma
Da Thi Hoang and Searidang Pa wait at Logan International Airport, after successfully flying in from Los Angeles only to find their bus to Middlebury, Vermont was cancelled, during a winter snow storm in Boston on Thursday
White-out conditions are seen in Hull, Massachusetts on Thursday. Hull is located on narrow peninsula that extends into Boston Harbor and often bares the brunt of winter storms that hit the area
Deep sea fishing and scallop boats docked at the Fish pier in Boston, Massachusetts on Thursday
A news crew readies for a live shot in Copley square in Boston, Massachusetts on Thursday
People walk through the streets of Boston as snow falls from a massive winter storm on Thursday