FALL RIVER, Mass. (WHDH) -- Heavy rain and a high tide caused flooded streets in Fall River on Wednesday.

Trucks, cars and ambulances tried to navigate streets that looked more like rivers. Flash floods forced people to abandon cars and even trapped some people inside Bruce Morrow’s sporting goods store.

“We were inside and people all of a sudden the people inside said, ‘Hey the water is coming in the doors,’” said Morrow.

Close to 40 people were trapped in the store during the torrential downpour and flash flooding.

“He told us we could leave, but where were we going to go? Honestly, the water was all the way up. Where were you going to go? Swim across to a truck that’s submerged?” said Melonie O’Brien, who was trapped in the store.

Some drivers plowed through flooded streets, leaving small wakes in their path. Roads were closed; cars were diverted or abandoned in the middle of the madness.

“My car is here. Now I have to walk to work because I can’t get by anywhere,” said Shannon Sousa, who abandoned her car. “Just made it here, but all over it’s completely flooded. It’s ridiculous. It’s like the whole city is shut down right now.”

The ramp to 24 at Exit 8A was waterlogged and closed to traffic. The only way people were getting around at the height of the storm was on foot and without shoes. Everything in the town was soaked.

“This is the worst it’s ever been in the last 22 years since we’ve been here. Just two weeks ago it was almost this bad. This is the worst,” said John Norfolk, who is cleaning up after his store flooded.

The Red Cross is on the scene trying to help some of the stores and businesses that have been drenched with the torrential rains.