During a 3-day period from March 17 to 19, 1968, a total of 3 to 7 inches of rain fell on parts of eastern Massachusetts. This heavy rainfall, combined with the generally wet antecedent conditions of the spring season and some runoff from snowmelt, caused considerable flooding of the rivers in the area. Property damage in Massachusetts from the flood was reported by the New England Division, Corps of Engineers (1968) to be $28 million. Most of the damage occurred where construction, both industrial and domestic, had encroached upon the flood plains of the rivers.
The Sudbury and Assabet Rivers join at Concord, Mass., to form the Concord River (see fig. 1). This three-river system, which is known locally as the “SuAs-Co’’ basin, drains an area of about 405 square miles.
The purpose of this report, which is one of a series covering the major flooded rivers in eastern Massachusetts, is to show flood stages and areas inundated by the March 1968 flood, to compare the severity of this flood with past floods, and to show the frequency of floods of given magnitudes which may be expected in the future at gaging stations in the basins. These basic flood data, as compiled, will serve as a broad, sound basis to assist state and local planners in such measures as flood-plain zoning and flood containment and prevention.
