PROVIDENCE – Before the Woonasquatucket River spilled across Valley Street last July, the science had predicted it.

“A warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture,” said Kim Cobb, a climate scientist and lead author on the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report. When it rains, there’s a lot more moisture to deliver in a short amount of time, she said.

That burst-delivery of rain has become increasingly common across the Northeast, which has seen the largest regional increase of extreme precipitation in the U.S., with a 60% increase in recent decades. And in low-lying Olneyville, that rain routinely turns into flooding along the Woonasquatucket River. 

Cobb said vulnerability in communities like Olneyville is tied to both place and resources: decades of underinvestment in core infrastructure have left storm drains and streets unable to cope with heavier downpours, and many residents don’t own their homes, lack flood insurance, or can’t easily evacuate without a car.

Sayda Arriaza, a longtime Olneyville resident and co-facilitator of the bilingual leadership program Nuevas Voces, has experienced her fair share of flooding. “I just remember seeing the water going through the ceiling … it was scary,” she said.

As the rain begins to accumulate, these vulnerabilities become apparent. Streets disappear underwater, trapping residents wherever the storm finds them as the river spills over its banks. Basements fill. Shoppers at the local Price Rite wade through a foot of water just to reach the door. 

A warmer, wetter Rhode Island

As the climate warms, the atmosphere functions like a sponge left in hot water – soaking up more moisture and releasing it in heavier bursts. Cobb’s group has found that Rhode Island is experiencing increases in both total precipitation and rainfall extremes. 

Cobb said it’s both the increase in precipitation and the rainfall extremes directly tied to greenhouse gases that are driving an increase in flood events in Rhode Island and across New England.

“We know that the next 20, 30 years of continued warming will just dial up that effect through time,” she said.

The state hasn’t yet experienced the kind of catastrophic floods seen in places like Vermont in 2023, when downtown Montpelier sat under several feet of water, and more than a hundred residents had to be rescued after days of heavy rain drove rivers to some of their highest levels on record. 

Cobb describes it as rolling dice or spinning a roulette wheel. “Sometimes you get lucky, and sometimes you don’t,” she said. “And we haven’t really gotten unlucky.” However, she warns that the kinds of events expected in the coming decades will be much worse.

It happens all the time now

In Olneyville, residents don’t need a chart to tell them rainfall is intensifying.

Nicole Wright, the community action coordinator at the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council (WRWC), said everyone is aware of the flooding. “I know a lot of people whose basements flood a lot,” said Wright. “Oftentimes it means that the boxes of winter clothes you keep in the basement are ruined, or the boxes of books or photos or whatever you have are ruined.” 

This emotional toll of losing photo albums or personal items often comes first. Then the financial toll follows. Wright says that many residents don’t have flood insurance, especially those who don’t live in a designated floodplain. For those who rely on cars, they don’t feel safe if there’s water on the street, she said. People who rely on public transportation or walking can’t get to where they need to go because the streets are flooded, which could mean disrupted work shifts and no way to pick up vital medications. 

When Valley Street floods, Olneyville residents’ grocery store of choice becomes inaccessible.

“If all of Valley Street is flooded and the parking lot at Price Rite is flooded, nobody can go grocery shopping or get food,” said Wright. “Or if they do, they have to wade through a foot of water to get in the grocery store.”

Stories like these have become more common. “I think people know that now there will be minor floods a couple times a year just with the heavy rain,” Wright said.

The communication gap

Despite the frequency of flooding in Olneyville, there are gaps in information and resource sharing, as well as emergency communications, that are often due to a language barrier. 

In a neighborhood where English is not the first language for many families, English-only messaging is often not understood. Wright says residents rely overwhelmingly on word of mouth, WhatsApp groups, and Facebook posts to communicate during flooding events. During storms, she receives videos of the flooding on residents’ streets, sent via WhatsApp groups.

Arriaza, the Olneyville resident and co-facilitator of Nuevas Voces, said emergency signage can also be confusing, and many signs are only one or two words – for example, ‘Evacuation Route.’ “If you don’t understand what that is, you will be completely lost,” she said. 

One such sign posted along one of the evacuation routes in Olneyville reads “Emergency Evacuation Route.” The sign belongs to the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency; its acronym sits at the bottom of the sign in small letters. Beneath the sign, a community sign hangs with a message in Spanish: “SI VE A LA MIGRA, LLAME,” followed by a local phone number. Community members are worried about ICE.

Placed directly under an English-only evacuation sign, it highlights how the neighborhood communicates in languages that the state’s warnings often don’t. Arriaza said that in emergencies, the brain becomes paralyzed, and people aren’t likely to think about using Google to translate the sign.

The Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency is aware of the communication gap. 

Armand Randolph, the agency’s assistant director of communications, said the agency distributes general preparedness information every month, but messages are only occasionally translated into Spanish.

He acknowledged that important messages can miss residents entirely. “We have to be better on making sure that we translate that information,” Randolph said. 

Additionally, Randolph said the agency should be more cognizant of the platforms that people who speak Spanish are on. “We actually talked about that this week, to be totally honest,” he said. “We need to change.”

The last time the agency did something to close the language gap was a senior preparedness initiative in Pawtucket, Central Falls a couple of years ago. There were four presentations: one in Spanish, French, Creole, and English. “We need to get back to that,” said Randolph.

He notes that staffing is a challenge: day-to-day, only three employees work in communications at the agency. “We can’t get everywhere,” he said. He also emphasized the importance of local emergency managers.

Randolph said the biggest barrier preventing residents, such as those in Olneyville, from receiving, understanding, and acting on flood alerts is “knowing us and trusting us.” 

Trusted messengers fill gaps

Where official channels fall short, community groups have created their own networks.

Wright says that before the Resilience Hub was closed for construction it had open hours throughout the week where people could drop by and look at the resources they have to offer and ask specific questions,. She said that the Friends of Olneyville Resilience Hub Instagram page remains a great resource, even as the hub is closed. The resilience hub construction will be completed by October 2026.

Residents also use the MyCoast app to upload flood photos, which government agencies and community organizations use to inform policies and decision-making. While it wasn’t designed as an informative source of flooding information, community members now check the MyCoast app for reported floods and pictures. Wright says residents will look at the app and say, “I just saw a photo of Valley Street being flooded.” Then they decide on an alternate route.  

Another local program is Nuevas Voces, a 10-month bilingual advocacy program run by the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council, which teaches neighbors within the Providence community about a range of issues, from community organizing to flooding.

Arriaza, a graduate of the program and the newest co-facilitator, said the program gives residents the knowledge, tools, and confidence to navigate flood hazards. Classes cover how flooding works, how to prepare emergency kits, and how to use evacuation routes. 

“Because it’s in their native language, they’re better able to understand some of the flood preparedness efforts,” Arriaza said. The program also aims to build leadership skills, she added, something she never saw in herself before joining. 

“I noticed that I started advocating in my kids’ school, at their doctor, asking questions, and I started noticing the difference,” she said. The organization noticed that change, too, and offered her the opportunity to work as a co-facilitator. The program also removes barriers by offering childcare, stipends, and dinner.

Working alongside Arriaza are Jenny Mercado and Maria Jose Gutierrez, also graduates of the program.

“The three of them really are great trusted sources of information and points of contact between WRWC and the community at large,” said Wright. “I think a lot of what the team I work on does is taking information and sharing it with our community members. A lot of that means translating information.”

Looking ahead

Cobb says Rhode Island still has a window to reduce further losses by strengthening preparedness now. “We don’t want to be learning the lessons after the fact,” she said. 

Cobb stressed preparing communities, infrastructure, and emergency response protocols so that Rhode Island  can suffer as minimal losses as possible during these outsized events.

At the state level, Randolph said the emergency management agency is working to build trust by expanding outreach and building relationships with neighborhoods like Olneyville. 

For Wright, who works directly with residents through the watershed council, hope lies in the people.

“The best part of our program is getting to know people and getting to see how passionate people are, said Wright. “People do get involved when they’re given pathways that allow them to become involved,” she said.

Arriaza, who once hesitated to speak up, said that shift in leadership is taking root in her own home. Her children now encourage her to speak up. “Mommy, aren’t you going to say something?” they ask, she said. “So I started noticing the change in myself and also the change in them because they see me and they also follow my lead.”

This story was published as part of a collaboration between ecoRI News and students in Brown University’s Science Journalism class. The stories examine the science, history, and human experiences connected to the Ocean State’s rivers — from water quality and wildlife restoration to flooding, pollution, social justice, and the communities working to protect them. To read more of these stories, click here.