Mavericks Pitch Novel Buyout Plan For Flood-Prone Warren

The Ocean State Job Lot plaza on Metacom Avenue is mostly occupied by a vast parking lot. (Sofia Rudin/The Public’s Radio)

Tidal rivers and bays surround Warren. The Palmer River runs up the town’s west side, Belcher Cove curls around the town center, and the Kickemuit River and Mount Hope Bay hug the eastern part of town.

This makes Warren vulnerable. If a major storm were to hit today, the town projects almost half of the homes would be damaged. Fewer than a third of those properties have flood insurance.

“I mean, it’s going to happen,” says town Planning Director Bob Rulli. “There are homes that are gonna be impacted. There’s people that’ll be impacted.”

People like Steven Pimentel, the owner of Warren Auto Body. The shop sits at a low point on Market Street, where the road crosses a small brook.

“Whenever we get a good rainstorm, any hurricane, the street just backs up with water, right there into the building,” Pimentel says.

He learned the business from his dad, Diogo, who began fixing cars in the Portuguese Army, and bought this shop in the ’80s.

Read the rest of this story at The Public’s Radio’s website.