Heavy rain drenches the Northeast

Portions of Rhode Island and Massachusetts went into survival mode Tuesday as homes were flooded, schools were closed and flights and trains were delayed because of record rainfall.

Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcieri asked residents to get home by dinnertime to avoid the worst flooding in the state in more than 100 years. Thousands of basements were flooded across the state, the governor’s office said.

National Guard troops were activated in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Boston set an all-time rainfall record for March with 13 inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service. Only the year of 1955 saw a wetter month -- August.

Providence, the Rhode Island capital, broke its all-time monthly record Tuesday afternoon with 15 inches of rainfall. The storm was expected to abate Wednesday.

About 20 minutes south of Providence, on Main Street in West Warwick, flooding shut down almost every restaurant. Sweet November Pizza and Bakery, which lies on higher ground, was an exception.

Owner Kristie Soscia said she closed for about 30 minutes as a precaution but reopened because the water didn’t inundate her restaurant. “We’re lucky,” she said.

In the area, the flooding was the worst near the Pawtuxet River -- behind Soscia’s restaurant. “It went from being a 5-foot stream to covering the entire woods,” she said.

More than 300 evacuees were expected at the West Warwick Civic Center on Tuesday. Families, young adults and a bus full of seniors unloaded at the center in the afternoon and local businesses were on hand with supplies, such as toothbrushes and slippers.

Sanford Miller, 76, who has lived in Warwick 39 years, said he had never seen anything like this week’s storm.

Miller -- who was escorted from his apartment to the shelter by a police cruiser -- said that by midafternoon there was almost 2 feet of water outside of his apartment.

“No way did I think it would get this bad,” he said.

nicole.santacruz@latimes.com