The heavy rains that fell on eastern Massachusetts in mid-May led to severe flooding along the Merrimack River in Lowell – the worst floods on that river since 1936. On Sunday, May 14th, the governor of Massachusetts declared a state of emergency and the city of Lowell activated its emergency operations center (EOC). Communications were established between the EOC and the park and Boott Hydropower as part of the city’s overall flood emergency action plan. As the river approached major flood stage on Monday, emergency steel stop logs were placed in position at Guard Locks by Boott Hydropower staff, sealing off water from entering the canal system and from flowing towards downtown Lowell. This procedure had not been used since the 1936 flood, when the historic Francis floodgate was dropped. That floodgate, built in 1850, was not used on this occasion, as the steel stop logs performed the same task of shutting off the water from entering the historic lock chamber. About a foot of water entered the basement utility area of Boott Mills. Maintenance staff pumped this water out as the flood progressed in order to prevent damage to chiller equipment. Park protection rangers were augmented by rangers from Boston NHP in order to provide overnight security and spectator control along Pawtucket Falls and at the Francis Gatehouse. Although many schools were closed on Monday and Tuesday, park programs and operations suffered only minimal disruption. Park staff were dismissed an hour early on Monday so that employees could get home, as many roads became gridlocked due to drivers seeking alternate routes around closed roads. The river dropped below flood stage by late in the week. Some river wall damage was observed, similar to the damage inflicted by Hurricane Floyd in 1999.
