Portsmouth roadway collapses during heavy flooding from Ida

PORTSMOUTH, R.I. (WPRI) — Large sections of Fairview Lane in Portsmouth collapsed Thursday morning amid the downpours and flooding from the remnants of Ida.

The force of the floodwaters gushing underneath caused the pavement to crumble, opening up large holes in the roadway and damaging some vehicles.

“This is crazy,” said John MacIntyre, who lives in the area. “I mean, talking to all the police officers and others, they’ve never really seen anything like this here in Portsmouth.”

Debra Furtado, who lives on Fairview Lane, tells 12 News she was driving to work when the roadway crumbled beneath her car.

“As soon as my left wheel hit [the pavement], it collapsed,” she recalled. “I opened up my driver’s side door and the road was collapsed, so I climbed out my passenger’s side.”

While Furtado admits she was shaken, she’s relieved she wasn’t injured.

The town saw roughly 7 inches of rain from late Wednesday night into Thursday morning.

Portsmouth Police and DPW crews spent the day tearing up what was left of the roadway. By 9 p.m., police said the road was “restored to passable conditions.”

Police plan on returning to the neighborhood to continue to make repairs. The long-term plan, according to police, is to build new infrastructure under the roadway in hopes of preventing this from happening again.

Photos: Portsmouth Roadway Collapse

On location photography and videography by WPRI 12’s Johnny Villella and T.J. DelSanto.