Flooded Norwood Airport Closed Indefinitely - Norwood, MA - News Article Locations on Waymarking.com

Eastern and Southern New England received record rains in March 2010, causing widespread flooding due to swollen medium and small rivers. The Neponset River river levels were right to the top of the banks and caused minor flooding in Norwood and Walpole. The river flooded a large wetland area known as Fowl Meadow, which is exactly what wetlands are supposed to do: allow streams to harmlessly flood wide areas and slowly release the extra water over time. Unfortunately, the Norwood Memorial Airport was built in Fowl Meadow, and was flooded by the second storm in the middle of March, where 9.5 inches of rain were recorded at the airport. It was almost dry and ready to open again, when the third storm at the end of the month hit, dropping approximately 5.5 inches. The airport wasn't up and running until about the middle of April.

One incident at the airport concerned the conditions of the runway. A group that flew organs to Boston hospitals decided to fly out of the airport before the airport was officially open. They were eventually fined for the incident.

Two online newspaper articles outline both events. The main article is about the closure of the airport after the middle storm.

The coordinates take you to the main parking lot of the airport. Access the airport from Neponset Street - take Access Road (there is a sign at the intersection). From the parking lot, there is an open grassy area to view the runways. When I visited on April 2, the river had recently crested and was on its way down; however, most of the runways and taxiways were under water, and many of the planes were in standing water.

Additional fooding was seen at the intersection of University Avenue and Canton Street at the Westwood/Norwood line. At the time of the visit, brave cars were negotiating the water covered road (none stranded at the time I was there!).

Sources:

Wicked Local (CNC Newspaer Corp.) ("Flooded Norwood Airport closed indefinitely")
(visit link)

Wicked Local (CNC Newspaper Corp.) ("Organ flights defy Norwood Airport closure"):
(visit link)

Wikipedia (Norwood Memorial Airport):
(visit link)

Type of publication: Newspaper When was the article reported?: 03/17/2010 Publication: Wicked Local/Norwood Transcript and Bulletin (Community Newspaper Corp.) Article Url: [Web Link] Is Registration Required?: no How widespread was the article reported?: regional News Category: Weather

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