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People come together to help Norwood church after severe flooding closes doors

NORWOOD, Mass. — Typically, on Sunday morning, services would take place at the Heritage Baptist Church in Norwood. The torrential rain that came this past week left that church severely damaged. Now the grind is on to recover and reopen.

One thing is for sure: they haven’t had to recover alone.

It’s been decades since Norwood saw rain like the buckets that came down almost a week ago.

>>>MORE: Norwood Hospital employees furloughed after Sunday’s massive storm

“It was like a swimming pool,” said Mario Perone, a parishioner at Heritage Baptist Church in Norwood. “Four or five feet of water on the outside.”

That was the scene that parishioners and the pastor of the Heritage Baptist Church pulled up to see.

“It was like a nightmare. It was surreal,” said Pastor Tom Krampert of Heritage Baptist Church.

“Water was pouring out the front doors, come to find out that there had been two and half feet of standing water that had accumulated in the main floor.”

Video from Facebook shows the deluge that damaged so much of the church.

“The basement was completely submerged from floor to ceiling,” Krampert said.

Flooring, carpeting, hymnals, equipment and pews all have to be replaced. For now, the church is closed.

“Where will we meet? Will people be all to meet somewhere soon?” asked Perone.

All of this happened just after coming back from the coronavirus shutdown.

“We were having just a great time over the last few weeks, then this happens,” Krampert said. “And we are like, ‘we got to do this all over again.’”

Related: Norwood Hospital continues cleanup days after severe storm

Now, work to rebuild has begun.

With faith and friends, some of which came from neighboring states to lend a helping hand, the crisis has been meet with calm vigilance.

“I’m serious, I can’t tell you how overwhelmed I am,” Krampert said.

Damage to the newly renovated church is estimated at $500,000. Because the church is not located in a flood plain and they do not have flood insurance, only about $10,000 will be covered, Krampert said.

To donate to help the church rebuild, visit https://www.hbcnorwood.com/flood-relief.