Southeast Massachusetts woke up Saturday, November 7, to the final rain totals from a storm that flooded streets, businesses and even a police station on Friday: 5.94 inches of rain three miles northwest of Rochester, 5.58 inches north of Marion, 5.16 inches southwest of Wareham and 5.09 inches at the gauge near New Bedford's airport, according to reports the National Weather Service office in Boston/Norton posted at 8:38 a.m. Saturday. The office noted that not all of the reports are considered official.
Source: SouthCoast360 — Flood Watch ends; rain reports reach 5.94 inches, updated Nov. 7, 2026
The Flood Watch for Bristol and Plymouth counties ended at 10 a.m. Saturday, its set end time, and was not extended. Late Saturday morning, the Weather Service's list of active alerts for Massachusetts showed no watches, warnings or advisories in effect — the clear-up phase of a 24-hour flood event that began with an afternoon Flood Warning at 2:46 p.m. Friday and peaked with a Flash Flood Warning issued at 8:54 p.m., which expired at 11:30 p.m.
Source: SouthCoast360 — Nov. 7, 2026
Falmouth: water inside the police station
In Falmouth, on Cape Cod, nearly three inches of rain fell, according to 7News, and floodwater got inside the Falmouth Police Department itself. Police reported flooding on Falmouth Heights Road, Grand Avenue, Menauhant Road and part of East Main Street, and the department called evening-shift officers in early to handle weather calls, NBC Boston, WCVB and Boston 25 News reported. "If you encounter flooding, please do not drive through it," Police Chief Jeffrey Lourie said, according to WCVB. A gas station in town was also flooded, with water across its forecourt.
Source: Boston 25 News / NBC Boston / WCVB via news roundup, Nov. 7, 2026
New Bedford and Wareham: stuck cars and closed roads
New Bedford police posted at 10:11 p.m. Friday that significant flooding was affecting roadways throughout the city, urged residents to avoid unnecessary travel, and told drivers never to drive through flooded roadways. The New Bedford–Fairhaven Bridge was temporarily closed by a mechanical problem with its gates during the flooding, then repaired and put back in operation, police said. National Weather Service storm reports described cars stranded in deep water under the Deane and Purchase Street overpass and a three-car crash on Route 140 southbound.
Source: SouthCoast360 / NWS storm reports, Nov. 7, 2026
In Wareham, police posted at 10:43 p.m. Friday that officers were dealing with significant flooding throughout town, that multiple roadways had dangerous conditions and that vehicles were becoming stuck in the water. The department named Glen Charlie Road, Charlotte Furnace Road, Gault Road, Main Street, Terry Lane and Marion Road as having extreme flooding and told drivers to avoid them. In Brockton, several inches of standing water closed Westgate Drive at both ends. Storm reports also described a driver rescued from deep water in Bourne, roads washed out in Provincetown and Bourne, and more than 1,100 customers without power in Truro.
Source: SouthCoast360 — Nov. 7, 2026
The Weather Service repeated the same warning through every alert on Friday: "Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles." It takes 12 inches of rushing water to carry away most cars and 2 feet to carry away SUVs and trucks, and 6 inches of fast-moving water can knock over an adult.
Why the rain would not stop
The Weather Service's Friday evening forecast discussion said moderate to heavy rain kept moving over the same part of southeast Massachusetts along a front that had stalled from New London, Connecticut, to Lawrence, and would keep falling there overnight before the front moved east, with drier air behind it on Saturday. It was the northern end of the same storm system that had caused catastrophic flooding on the Georgia–Tennessee line earlier in the week before moving up the Atlantic coast on Friday — the system that swamped McCaysville, Georgia, turned its attention to New England a day later.
What happens next
With the watch over and no alerts in force late Saturday morning, the work in Falmouth, New Bedford, Wareham and the other flooded towns shifts to clearing drains and debris, reopening any roads still closed, and assessing damage to homes and businesses. Police asked drivers to keep heeding remaining road closures even after the rain ended. The rain figures are preliminary reports gathered by the Weather Service on Saturday morning and may be revised when the official totals are published. No deaths were reported in Massachusetts in the reports reviewed — a sharp contrast with the same system's flooding in Georgia, where one driver died.