Heavy rains flood 75 Mass. farms, force untreated sewage to flow into 3 rivers

About 90,000 gallons of untreated sewage and waste overflowed along the Green River in Greenfield, Massachusetts, on Sunday, with local officials citing heavy to moderate rains as the cause.

Department of Public Works officials discovered the sanitary sewer overflow on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. The sewage and waste was discharging from a regulator chamber outfall behind 302 Deerfield St. at a rate 529 gallons per minute.

A spokesman for Mayor Roxann Wedegartner told State House News Service late Sunday afternoon that the discharge stopped at 3:45 p.m.

The Green River and Deerfield River in Greenfield were affected, as well as the Connecticut River in Deerfield, Montague and Sunderland. The mayor's office advised that people avoid contact with the water bodies for 48 hours after the discharge ceases due to increased health risks from bacteria and pollutants.

The heavy rains on Sunday hampered areas of western and central Massachusetts trying to recover from heavy rains and flooding earlier in the week. The National Weather Service warned of flash floods throughout the day, with impacts across the state, including buckled roads and rising rivers.

At 5:43 p.m., the weather service confirmed an EF-0 tornado, which carries winds between 65 mph and 85 mph, hit along a two-mile path in North Brookfield over a three-minute period beginning at 10:56 a.m. Sunday. Citing help from local fire officials who led a tour of the area and amateur radio volunteers who provided initial damage reports, the weather service reported "only damage to trees in the area."

Sen. Jo Comerford of Northampton tweeted Sunday about corn, squash and potato crops "under water again" in Hadley, Deerfield, Hatfield and other places, writing that floods had hit new areas in the Connecticut River Valley.

"We need relief for region's farmers. Current estimates (still rising) are 75 farms affected, 2 thousand acres+ affected, millions of $ lost," she tweeted.

Officials in Gov. Maura Healey's office and at the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency initially declined to say if the state had activated its emergency management operations in Framingham, but MEMA spokeswoman Sara Porter later on Sunday said that the "State Emergency Operations Center, which is located at MEMA headquarters, is operating at steady state monitoring."

Damage evaluations are ongoing, and there are indications that farms affected by last week's flooding were further impacted on Sunday, and some farms that were not previously impacted have now felt the adverse effects, according to one state official. Farmers have reported that this weekend's rainfall has prevented them from dealing with the impacts of last week's flood by making their fields inaccessible and unable to dry.

Porter said four situational awareness statements had been issued to emergency support partners and local officials. The statements were not available.

MEMA coordinators were reaching out Sunday to western and central Massachusetts communities "that may be experiencing the most significant impacts from flooding to coordinate any requests for state assistance," Porter said.

Healey is slated to return to Massachusetts Sunday evening after spending the weekend in Michigan with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and other female governors. A Healey spokeswoman said Sunday afternoon that Healey and Driscoll are receiving updates as MEMA monitors the weather situation.

Healey visited western Massachusetts on Wednesday to see firsthand the impacts of flooding on farms and local infrastructure.

A Healey aide told State House News Service later Sunday that Healey and administration officials have been in direct contact with farmers and local officials throughout Sunday, and that Healey plans to visit impacted farms this week. Teams have been "on the ground" since early last week, the aide said.

"Governor Healey, Lieutenant Governor Driscoll and our entire administration are deeply concerned about the devastating impacts recent flooding has had on Massachusetts farms," Healey spokeswoman Karissa Hand said. "We have been in constant contact with farms, other institutions in our local food supply chain and local officials, with several members of our administration visiting impacted farms over the past week. We are continuing to assess the scale of the ongoing damage and working closely with our federal partners to identify badly needed funding assistance that may be available."

The governor's current public schedule places Healey and Driscoll together in Andover early Monday afternoon to announce new workforce development grants. They are also scheduled to visit Deerfield later in the day to speak with local farmers about how they have been impacted by the flooding and what support is needed.