1000 Year Storm Hits Norwood, Massive Flooding, Hospital Evacuated-This Day In Norwood History-June 28, 2020

Norwood Hospital Temporarily Closed After Flash Flood Evacuations

Around 4:00 p.m. on the afternoon of June 28, 2020, a series of exceptionally powerful atmospheric storms advanced across New England, bringing a severe combination of localized flash floods, frequent lightning strikes, heavy hail, torrential downpours, and intense, destructive winds. While the meteorological disturbance left a trail of damage throughout the broader region, the town of Norwood was subjected to a particularly concentrated and devastating onslaught. The atmospheric conditions that afternoon led to a phenomenon known as “back building,” wherein individual thunderstorm cells continuously regenerated on their trailing flank. This meteorological stagnation caused prolonged, unrelenting downpours over a highly localized area. Within a span of roughly ninety minutes, a staggering three to four inches of rain fell directly over Norwood, with some localized weather stations recording total Sunday rainfall amounts as high as 5.75 inches.

According to a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood insurance rate map published in 2012, the zone immediately surrounding Norwood Hospital was designated as an area of minimal flood hazard. However, local geography and topography dictated a far more perilous reality, as a minimal designation does not equate to a zero-percent risk. Surface water naturally seeks the path of least resistance, flowing from elevated positions to accumulate in low-lying basins. The campus of Norwood Hospital, along with its adjacent parking facilities, sat directly within such a low point. Cottage Street, which borders the property, possesses a steep and significant slope that acted as a high-velocity conduit for the rushing runoff during the deluge. Furthermore, the nearby Neponset River, a watercourse known for its rapid response to heavy precipitation events, swelled dramatically, rising four feet in a matter of minutes. Had it not been for unseasonably dry soil conditions resulting from a dry spring, the river would have surpassed moderate flood levels, potentially compounding the unfolding disaster.

Holy flash flooding earlier! Norwood, MA 📹:Daddy’s Dairy @NWSBoston @WX1BOX pic.twitter.com/mAUmmovkUg

— eweather (@Eweather13) June 28, 2020

As the intense thunderstorm peaked, the rapidly accumulating surface water completely overwhelmed the municipal storm drainage infrastructure. On Nahatan Street, a passenger vehicle became deeply stranded, submerged to its wheels beneath the stone railroad overpass. Along Central Street, the sheer volume of water forced multiple downtown restaurants to abruptly suspend operations as floodwaters breached their entryways. The Norwood Fire Department was suddenly inundated with emergencies, receiving at least seventy-five distinct calls for assistance over a brief window. These reports included active building fires, direct lightning strikes, and severely inundated basements across the municipality. At approximately 3:15 p.m., Norwood firefighters rushed to Pleasant Street, where a direct lightning strike had ignited a detached garage. Upon arrival, emergency companies found the structure well-involved in flames. Engine 3 immediately deployed an attack line to knock down the body of the fire, while Ladder 1 provided necessary ventilation and overhaul operations. Engine 1 established a vital water supply line, stretching 300 feet from a nearby hydrant to support Engine 3. Crews labored at the Pleasant Street scene for just under an hour before returning to readiness.

The geographical reality of the storm became increasingly apparent as flash floods rolled violently downhill from the high ground near Nichols Street, sending waves of water coursing directly toward the downtown district. Situated squarely at the base of this prominent hill was Norwood Hospital, an institution with a known history of minor water ingress during sudden, massive precipitation events. However, the historic cloudburst of June 28, 2020, arrived at an extraordinarily difficult moment for the community. Only a few months prior, the global Covid-19 pandemic had forced the state and nation into an unprecedented societal shutdown. Norwood had been among the earliest municipalities in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to experience a concentrated outbreak; during the first week of March, eleven high-ranking town officials, including Town Manager Tony Mazucco and School Superintendent David Thomson, had tested positive for the virus.

In response to the public health crisis, Norwood Hospital had instituted aggressive operational protocols to curb transmission. Steward Medical Group, the parent corporate entity of the hospital, transitioned a significant portion of routine care to telehealth video appointments, allowing patients to consult physicians without entering the physical facility. A specialized medical screening tent was erected directly outside the emergency room department to process coronavirus testing, and strict visitor restrictions were enforced throughout the pavilions. Despite these measures, the biological toll on the town remained heavy. In April, a severe cluster at the local Charwell nursing home resulted in the deaths of fifteen residents within a twelve-day period, alongside dozens of additional infections. By late June, although weekly epidemiological metrics were finally trending downward, Norwood had recorded a cumulative total of 580 confirmed cases, and the hospital remained an absolutely vital bastion in the ongoing regional fight against the pandemic.

The unprecedented volume of water that converged upon the medical campus on June 28 created a structural and operational emergency that hospital personnel had never anticipated. The catastrophe began to manifest immediately outside the loading dock of the Larusso building, situated just off East Hoyle Street. This specific loading infrastructure had been engineered fifteen feet below the surrounding street level, occupying the historic footprint where the old Civic ballfield had existed fifty years prior. This sunken configuration had been designed to allow commercial logistics trucks to back down the incline to deliver food, linens, and essential medical supplies directly to the basement kitchen and general storerooms.

On that Sunday afternoon, an uncontrollable torrent of runoff raced down the sloped asphalt driveway, immediately surcharging and drowning the drainage grate at the bottom. Within minutes, the water level climbed rapidly, matching the height of the elevated loading platform and continuing its vertical ascent. When the water depth reached approximately ten feet against the structure, the hydrostatic pressure grew too immense for the building’s exterior envelope to bear. The structural failure sent thousands of gallons of rushing water bursting through the heavy loading dock doors.

@boston25 Norwood High School pic.twitter.com/OXiRLVxosi

— Alena McKee (@AlenaMcKee) June 28, 2020

“It was something like a movie. It was like we were running away from water,” recalled Norwood Hospital employee Michael Ware, who witnessed the sudden breach. “It burst open all the doors in the basement, so all the water just came in at once.” A dramatic security camera recording from an interior basement hallway captured the terrifying moment the doors gave way, a video that quickly went viral across global social media networks.

The Norwood Fire Department received its initial call regarding extensive basement flooding at the hospital at 4:46 p.m. As the internal conditions deteriorated exponentially, a second emergency transmission reached fire dispatch, detailing rapid inundation. Navigating numerous flooded thoroughfares, the first responding apparatus arrived on scene at 4:50 p.m. Firefighters were confronted with rapidly rising waters and several hospital employees who had become physically trapped by the sudden influx. Personnel from Ladder 1 utilized specialized entry tools to force open jammed doors, successfully extricating the trapped staff. Once it was verified that all personnel had escaped the basement safely, emergency crews systematically terminated the building’s main natural gas and electrical utilities to eliminate the imminent threat of fire or electrocution. Concurrently, significant structural leakage began to appear on the upper floors of the Larusso building due to the roof drainage failure. Lieutenant Chris Campilio, the initial officer in charge of the scene, recognized the scale of the crisis and immediately requested additional mutual aid resources and the dispatch of a Chief Officer.

Upon arrival, Deputy Chief John Cody assumed command of the incident from Lieutenant Campilio. Evaluating the perilous lack of utility power, failing backup systems, and compromised clinical environments, Deputy Chief Cody made the critical determination that a complete evacuation of the medical complex was required. At 5:43 p.m., Norfolk County Control was contacted to establish a dedicated fire-ground communications channel and to mobilize regional resources. A large-scale ambulance task force was requested to manage the orderly relocation of dozens of bedridden individuals. An extraordinary mutual aid response materialized, drawing fire departments and apparatus from Canton, Sharon, Westwood, Foxboro, Stoughton, Needham, Randolph, Walpole, Norfolk, Millis, and Mansfield. Private and institutional emergency medical service providers, including Brewster, Fallon, and South Shore hospital ambulance services, rushed to the scene.

Because the total electrical failure had rendered the hospital’s elevators completely inoperable, every single patient had to be manually carried down dark, tight stairwells by emergency personnel. Among those evacuated were multiple critically ill intensive care patients who required continuous life-support equipment, monitors, and manual ventilation. These fragile patients, along with their complex medical apparatus, were carefully transported down the stairs by teams of firefighters and police officers, transferred to staging ambulances, and distributed to receiving regional medical facilities, including Good Samaritan Medical Center, Saint Elizabeth’s Medical Center, Carney Hospital, St. Ann’s Hospital, Morton Hospital, and Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital. In total, more than 125 patients were successfully evacuated from the facility without a single injury reported among the patient population, hospital staff, or first responders.

A second alarm was officially struck to systematically rotate fresh personnel into the grueling operation, bringing additional emergency apparatus from Canton, Sharon, Westwood, Walpole, Norfolk, Stoughton, Foxboro, and Dedham to assist with the ongoing physical evacuations. As the evening progressed, two additional regional ambulance task forces were mobilized, summoning emergency units from Hanson, Abington, Whitman, Brockton, East Bridgewater, Norwell, Cohasset, Hanover, Rockland, Hingham, Duxbury, and Kingston, alongside further assets from Fallon Ambulance Service. A metropolitan regional police task force was also deployed to provide necessary manpower and security cordons around the perimeter.

To sustain the hundreds of emergency personnel operating on the flooded campus, Boston Sparks Rehab and Support Services responded with their specialized A10 and A11 rehabilitation units, operating alongside the Providence Canteen to provide refreshments and medical monitoring. The Mansfield Fire Department deployed its field communications vehicle to coordinate the complex radio traffic, while the Norfolk County Technical Rescue Team and the Somerville Auxiliary Fire Department provided heavy-duty portable generators and industrial scene lighting. The massive emergency incident was officially cleared at 6:00 p.m. the following day, June 29, after more than twenty-six hours of continuous operations.

Despite the unprecedented scale of the regional mutual aid deployment to the hospital, each surrounding community, including the town of Norwood itself, successfully managed their own localized storm emergencies. Norwood Fire Chief Morrice subsequently issued a statement expressing his sincere and profound gratitude to all responding modern municipalities for their rapid and professional assistance during the crisis.

Remarkably, despite the violent influx of water and the logistical complexity of moving over one hundred patients in total darkness, no casualties occurred. “The flooding was significant, and it just came from multiple areas. But we were able to get through all of this with zero injuries,” stated Dr. Sal Perla, an executive administrator at Norwood Hospital, summarizing the monumental rescue effort.

In acknowledgment of the extreme meteorological anomaly, the National Weather Service in Boston had taken the rare step of issuing a Flash Flood Emergency for Norwood and its immediate surrounding towns, alerting the populace to imminent, life-threatening conditions. This directive marked only the third time in Massachusetts history that a Flash Flood Emergency had ever been declared by federal meteorologists, with the previous two instances occurring during the passage of Tropical Storm Arthur in 2014 and Hurricane Irene in 2011.

The historic flood of June 28, 2020, stands as one of the most operationally complex emergencies in the modern annals of the town of Norwood. Occurring during the initial, uncertain months of the Covid-19 pandemic, the disaster tested the absolute limits of local emergency personnel, municipal leaders, and healthcare staff. The flawless evacuation of over 125 patients under complete blackout conditions serves as an enduring testament to the profound efficacy of regional mutual aid networks and municipal preparedness. Ultimately, this event remains etched in Norwood’s civic memory as a moment when an unprecedented environmental crisis was met with exemplary courage, coordination, and community resilience.

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