The deluge of Wednesday night into Thursday morning, remnants of Hurricane Ida, which hit the Gulf Coast near New Orleans as a category 4 hurricane, dumped some 7 inches of rain on the region. It even spawned rare tornado warnings late Wednesday. Thursday morning, Hope Street (route 114) was completely blocked by Silver Creek overflowing its banks. Chesnut Street was also blocked.

Surveying the scene by the intersection of Hope and Washington Streets, Capt. Brian Burke of the Bristol Police Department and John Olson of the RI Department of Transportation, said they were not sure how long it would take for the waters to drop to passable levels, but were hopeful that things would be back to normal around noon.

A couple of miles south from there, the town's water pollution control department was dealing with an array of challenges. The massive volume of rainwater overwhelmed the system, particularly in the area where Hope Street and Ferry Road meet, just south of the treatment plant. At 10 a.m., untreated water was still pouring out of manhole covers, unable to even reach the plant. A town crew was feeding chlorine into the water at several points to provide some sanitation for what was washing down the streets.

An area of roadway roughly 15 feet in diameter was blown out by the enormous water pressure, with the asphalt actually lifted out of place. Once the water recedes, the road will have to be repaired.