Flood of 1955

The rains of Hurricanes Connie and Diane in August 1955, a year after Hurricanes Carol and Edna, brought the next great flood. The Selectmen wrote that "the hurricane and flood of August caused heavy damage to the highways," and the flooding of the Concord River pulled apart the town's sixteen-inch force main at the Boston Road bridge over the river, a repair the town expected the U.S. Army Engineers and the state to pay for. For nearly three weeks in August and September the whole highway crew fought the flood waters, cleaned catch basins, replaced washed-out culverts and hauled gravel fill, and the Civil Defense department used its new portable lighting plant and two-way radios "during the August flood of the Concord River." The warrant for the annual meeting of 1956 proposed that the Building Inspector be allowed to refuse permits "on lots subject to periodic flooding or innundation."

Other floods on the two rivers: 1936, 1968, 1979, 1987, 2010.

References

1. Billerica Annual Report for 1955, pp. 30-31 (Selectmen: hurricane and flood of August), 49-51 (highway crew, force main at Boston Road, Civil Defense in the August flood), 88 (Flood Damage account), 128 (building code article).
2. Wikipedia, 'Hurricane Diane': the August 1955 storm whose rains, following Hurricane Connie, caused record floods in southern New England.