Sun emerges, but region still reeling from rainfall

Judge said emergency shelters remain open in Freetown to the south of Boston and in Lawrence to the north, but he added that the state did not get any new requests for emergency assistance overnight.

The Massachusetts National Guard, which Governor Deval Patrick activated earlier this week, is still on duty, Judge said.

The sun began to break through this afternoon, a welcome sight to water-weary residents. Comfortable temperatures in the upper 50s are expected, dipping to the mid-40s tonight, according to the National Weather Service.

Sunny skies and temperatures in the lower 60s will characterize Friday’s weather, with temperatures reaching into the 70s and lower 80s on Saturday. That’s 20 to 25 degrees warmer than usual, said NWS meteorologist Charlie Foley.

Judge said rivers in the region have already crested or are expected to crest today, which could begin easing some of the flooding concerns caused by the recent record rainfall.

However, Judge stressed, neighborhoods already underwater, or fighting to keep water out, will still have flooding conditions for the next several days.

"In reality, this flooding event is going to continue until sometime next week when these rivers will finally begin to lower,'' he said.

The NWS has extended its flood warning for urban areas and small streams in Worcester, Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Suffolk, Bristol, Plymouth counties until 5:30 p.m. today.

Most rivers in the state have crested, except for the Merrimack River at Lawrence, Nashua River at East Pepperell, Concord River at Lowell, and Charles River at Dover, said Foley.

“The water is receding, but it may be until Friday or so in some cases and beyond that before some of these rivers and streams go back within their banks,” Foley said. “But the worst has already occurred.”

In hard-hit Rhode Island, Governor Don Carcieri today said the worst flooding to hit the state in 200 years is "another whack" at the state's struggling economy.

Carcieri said at a news conference Thursday that it's too early to measure the economic impact of the flooding. But he said it would be at least in the tens of millions of dollars.

Interstate 95 in Warwick is still closed, but Carcieri says crews are working to open it by this afternoon A two-lane bridge in Coventry where abutments washed out appears safe from immediate collapse after the water rushing underneath it receded.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is scheduled to travel to Rhode Island on Friday.

Boston set a new record for its wettest March after clouds dropped 14.87 inches of rain on the city, surpassing the 11 inches of rain that fell in March 1953, according to the NWS. It also became Boston’s second wettest month overall, falling short of the 17.09 inches of rain that fell in August 1955. Archives date back to 1872.

The Blue Hill Observatory set a new record for wettest month ever recorded, with 18.81 inches of rainfall, narrowly beating the previous record of 18.78 inches in August 1955.

The frequency of the heavy storms – three within a three-week period – and their timing was unprecedented in the last 100 years of weather history, according to the NWS.

“Generally, these records for rainfall are set during hurricane season from June to November,” Foley said.

In Boston, the city said all Parks and Recreation playing fields are closed and will be off-limits until Tuesday.

The Charles River in Wellesley and the town’s ponds and streams are still at flood stage, said Wellesley Fire Captain Dennis Goodwin.

“The worst is probably over, but we’re still pumping out basements,” Goodwin said. “We’ll be doing that for the next few days until everything really recedes.”

While Auburn Street at Beulah Street in Framingham remains closed, flooding on other streets has begun receding, said Framingham Fire Lieutenant Ronald Brandolini.

Those residents who evacuated Circle Drive, a street located near the Sudbury River that was under a foot of water in some parts Wednesday, have been able to return to their homes, Brandolini said.

In Natick, firefighters are now being able to direct their attention to some areas in west and east Natick, where houses still sit in water, said Fire Captain Eugene Rothman.

“If a house is in the middle of a lake, there isn’t much we can do about it until the lake disappears,” Rothman said. “When you see them on regular days, you think what a nice house, what a nice lawn.”

Residents in living on both sides of the Shawsheen River in Billerica, Wilmington and Tewksbury are being forced to find new ways through their neighborhood after a span crossing the river was shutdown for safety reasons.

Flood waters washed out a portion of the span's decking in the neighborhood of Whipple Road in Billerica, Nichols Street in Wilmington and Brown Street in Tewksbury, leading municipal officials to ban traffic.

The span will be closed until a safety inspection is completed, officials said. A one-by-two-foot section of the bridge was washed away, officials said.

“Every time we get that much water, the water tends to run over the bridge,” said Jamie Magaldi, assistant superintendent of the Department of Public Works in Wilmington.

(Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.)