Boston’s canals filled with 130,000 gallons of runoff this week after heavy rains forced officials to close the historic city’s streets.
The video shows people driving slowly through the canal as dark, muddy water reaches between the tires of their cars. Cars get stuck on the other side of the canal, where the water level seems to be much lower.
Boston faced many problems, such as debris on the road and fallen tree limbs, due to heavy rains, Jonathan Gulliver, highway manager of Massachusetts’s Department of Transportation, MassDOT, said at a press event.
“However, the biggest and most talked about issue we had was the canal,” said Gulliver.
The water that filled the tunnel was three meters deep, according to the director.
Officials responded to “multiple calls for localized flooding throughout the state,” he said.
The flood was “too much to deal with.”
Watch drivers wade through flooded Boston tunnels
What was done about the Boston tunnel flood?
Many of the hydrants were shut down in Boston after heavy rain caused flooding in the city.
About 400 feet of roadway was affected by flooding, according to Gulliver.
“It was a lot of standing water that crossed almost two lanes of traffic,” he said.
MassDOT had crews on standby, and they were dispatched when the department began receiving reports of damaged roads.
The department closed the road leading to the affected section of the canal and diverted traffic to the main roads below.
Did the pipes fail? Why did it flood?
The Boston Canal has 40 pumping stations inside, according to Gulliver.
“None of those pipes failed,” he said.
Instead, the flooding was caused by a blockage near the main basin that collects storm water from the canals.
“So this required a greater response than we would like to clarify,” said Gulliver.
It rains after a dry fall
A system moving off Road Island on Wednesday brought rain, Candice Hrencecin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, NWS, in Boston, told USA TODAY.
Boston received about four inches of rain, Gulliver said. However, Hrencecin said that it received about three centimeters.
During the month of December, the city usually gets about 4.3 inches of rain, Hrencecin said.
The storm came after the city faced a difficult fall season and numerous brush fires, according to a previous USA TODAY report. In October, the country saw over 100 brush fires in one week. The NWS has also issued special weather advisories to warn people of the increased possibility of brush fires early.
The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation has banned all open fires and charcoal in state parks “to prevent wildfires due to the drought.” Open burning in Massachusetts will be banned again in January, according to the department.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Boston tunnel flooding: Watch video of motorists driving through floodwaters