One year ago this week revisted

[Ginx snewx]

http://www.theday.com/article/20110327/NWS01/303279862/-1/NWS

http://www.theday.com/article/20110327/NWS01/303279873/1017

HOW HIGH DID THE WATER GET?

Peak water heights during 2010 floods at U.S. Geological Survey stream gauges in the Wood-Pawcatuck rivers watershed and southeastern Connecticut.

Pawcatuck River at Westerly:

Peak height during 2010 flood: 15.4 feet

Previous peak: 15 feet, 1938

Pawcatuck River at Wood River Junction:

Peak height during 2010 flood: 11.16 feet

Previous peak: 10.3 feet, 19382

Pendleton Hill Brook, North Stonington:

Peak height during 2010 flood: 7.6 feet

Previous peak: 6.73 feet, 1982

Quinebaug River, Jewett City:

Peak height during 2010 flood: 23.3 feet

Previous peak: 29 feet, 1955

Yantic River, Norwich:

Peak height during 2010 flood: 13.2 feet

Previous peak: 14.9 feet, 1982

East branch of Eightmile River, Lyme:

Peak height during 2010 flood: 7.2 feet

Previous peak: 10.22 feet, 1982

Eightmile River at North Plain, Lyme:

Peak height during 2010 flood: 7.8 feet

Previous peak: 11.1 feet, 1982

HOW MUCH RAIN?*

• March 2010 precipitation: 16.34 inches (wettest March in 116-year record)

• Average monthly precipitation: 3.87 inches

• Average March precipitation:

4.43 inches

• Number of heavy rainstorms from March 16 to 30, 2010: 4

• Total rainfall in February and March 2010: 25.4 inches

• Average annual precipitation total: 46.45 inches

*Figures for Washington County, R.I.; figures similar for New London County

Source: Prof. Thomas Boving, University of Rhode Island; National Weather Service

BY THE NUMBERS

2010 flood in New London County and Washington County, R.I.

• Applications approved for individuals and households for FEMA assistance:

New London County: 2,480

Washington County: 4,981

• FEMA funds approved for individuals and households:

New London County: $3.6 million

Washington County: $7.7 million

• Number of residences impacted:

New London County: 4,228

Washington County: 25,943

• Number of businesses impacted:

New London County: 279

Washington County: 718

• Total impact estimate:

New London County: $5.3 million

Washington County: $37.1 million

Source: Federal Emergency Management Agency

Climate suggests floods will probably happen again

By Judy Benson Day Staff Writer

Communities urged to re-examine infrastructure and response

A year ago this week, record rainfalls and overflowing rivers temporarily transformed this region into a strange, watery world.

From the Eightmile River in Lyme to the Yantic in Norwich, the Quinebaug and the Pachaug in Griswold, Whitford Brook in Old Mystic and the Wood-Pawcatuck rivers watershed on both sides of the Connecticut-Rhode Island border, watercourses swelled onto roadways, overtopped dams, undermined bridges, invaded garages and forced evacuations of some neighborhoods.

Overfilled by record rainfalls, groundwater stores normally sequestered deep within the earth rose to swamp septic systems and basement furnaces. Fortunately, there were no deaths.

While much of the cleanup was completed months ago, there is still visible evidence of the floods in the two closed bridges awaiting repairs in Washington County, R.I., in the badly eroded section of River Road in Old Mystic and the missing span to North Stonington's village center.

Not only did the flood of 2010 have a major impact on the region, but experts say it holds important lessons for wise community planners and residents.

"This was an extreme event, but it certainly fits into the patterns of climate change," said Professor Thomas Boving, hydrologist in the College of Environmental and Life Sciences at the University of Rhode Island who recently completed an analysis of the flood and, as a Hope Valley, R.I., resident, was affected by it. "It should serve as a warning that these types of events are much more likely to occur more frequently. It will probably happen again."

What is now recognized as this region's worst flooding in decades extended to all of Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts. In New London County and neighboring Washington County, R.I., it left affected residents to clean up a mess of mud, debris and damage and wade through repair bills, government assistance applications and insurance claims.

In the Westerly neighborhood off Pound Road, Ed and Cindy Morrone are still rebuilding parts of their flood-damaged home overlooking Chapman Pond, replacing a destroyed cement patio and stairs with a wooden deck and new staircase. They also lost a basement boiler. Floodwaters surrounded the neighborhood, leaving it inaccessible except by the small boats residents used to cross the pond. While some residents of "Chapman Island" evacuated, others stayed to make do with generator power and share what they had. Floodwaters didn't recede for days.

"It took over a week," Ed Morrone recalled. "I stayed here, helping everybody else. It brought everybody in the neighborhood closer in a time of emergency."

Open space limited damage

While homeowners focused on personal losses, local and state governments tackled infrastructure repairs and awaited federal assistance, and began considering the long-term implications of how to plan for future floods. As bad as it was in this region, though, it would have been much worse if there had been fewer forests, fields and open spaces to hold floodwaters. In eastern Rhode Island, with more pavement to channel the downpours directly into rivers and streams, damage was greater.

"We would have seen as much damage here as they did in Cranston if we had as much pavement," said Christopher Fox, executive director of the Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Association. "The take-home message is that man does not have control over the environment, no matter how much you're lulled into a false sense of security."

An important part of the association's mission, he said, is to monitor development in the 300-square-mile watershed, which extends into four Connecticut border towns, and the flood certainly provides a strong argument for working to keep the area rural.

The U.S. Geological Survey, using data from gauges in streams, has deemed the deluge of 2010 a 100-year flood in southeastern Connecticut, and a 200- to 500-year flood in Washington County. That means that, based on the historical record, it was a flood of a rarity and magnitude that has only a 1 percent chance of happening in Connecticut in any given year, and a 0.2 percent to 0.5 percent chance of recurring in any year in that part of Rhode Island. At some of the 10 stream gauges in the area, it set new records for the height and volume of water measured.

"It was a pretty incredible flood," said Andrew Waite, hydrologist with the USGS office in Northborough, Mass., which is in charge of stream gauges in Rhode Island. "Some of our gauges were overwhelmed (during the flood), but this one did continue to work."

The gauge he was referring to is on the Pawcatuck River at Wood River Junction, R.I., next to a bridge over Route 91. On Tuesday, as he conducted routine checking of the instruments and flow measurements, he recalled the scene a year ago: The bridge and highway were submerged, and waders were required to reach the gauge. A pencil line on the wall about 3½ feet from the floor inside the concrete gauge house marks the water height.

In the days after the flood, he and USGS colleagues from the Massachusetts and Connecticut offices, along with Army Corps of Engineers staff, attached dozens of small green discs and other reminders at high water marks on trees, walls, bridges and signs over hundreds of miles throughout the flooded area. The marks serve as the historical flood record and will be used for flood mapping projects.

"We were out in full force for a solid month surveying the area," Waite said.

Field work during and after the floods is also used to validate - or revise - Federal Emergency Management Agency flood maps, said Elizabeth Ahearn, hydrologist and surface water specialist at the Connecticut USGS office in East Hartford.

Areas shown on these maps as being flood prone are required to carry flood insurance. The field work also provides the basis of flood calculations developed for rivers and streams where there are no gauges.

Phil Zarriello, surface water specialist for the USGS, said the high-water marking and flood data collection are useful for decisions about wetlands preservation, roads, drainage, bridge height, culvert size and intensity of development appropriate for particular areas. Keeping flood information up to date, he believes, is particularly critical now as climate conditions are in flux, and past patterns can't be relied upon as guides for the future.

"We're dealing with a moving target," he said.

More '100-year floods' expected

Three research reports published over the last two years, the most recent released just as the floods were occurring, document trends for heavier, more intense precipitation and more frequent flooding in the northern latitudes.

The phenomenon results, the research authors say, from warming due to climate change. That causes the atmosphere to hold more water vapor and energizes hydrological cycles.

Mathias Collins, hydrologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, noted a significant uptick in flood events in New England since 1970.

A report from the University of New Hampshire describes increases both in yearly rainfall totals across the region and for more of that rainfall to come during intense storms. Coupled with more development over the last 60 years, flooding and flood risk have also increased, the report said.

"Requirements for how and where we build our homes, businesses, roads, wastewater treatment plants, power lines and other structure need to be re-evaluated," the report concludes. "The problem with increasing frequency and intensity of extreme precipitation is that the 100-year flood is now occurring much more frequently. ... Future increases in extreme precipitation are very likely."

Like other municipal officials in the flood-affected region, Steve Hartford, town manager of Westerly, said last year's experience will have a lasting impact. Even as immediate needs for flood damage repairs continue - Canal Street and its drainage structures need to be redesigned and rebuilt, some local businesses haven't fully recovered, and the location of the public works garage and transfer station that were under water for days during the flood are being re-examined - the town is also taking a longer view.

"There's a greater urgency to take a look at the whole area along the (Pawcatuck) river, and consider how development can be better managed," Hartford said. "There's definitely a concern, now that people understand the risks of being in a low-lying area."

[email protected]

[Ginx snewx]

Old dams met their match in 2010 flood

By Judy Benson Day Staff Writer

More attention needs to be paid to barriers at risk of collapsing

Hopkinton, R.I. - Kathy Palmer remembers the loud rumbling, then the wall of water sweeping over the small farm where she and her family have lived for the last 50 years.

"It was like a tidal wave," she said. "We heard this weird sound, and my father screamed. I called 911. I said, this isn't from the flood."

The torrent rushed through her property and that of her neighbors and onto Canonchet Road, closing it for two days, then spread over portions of Routes 3 and 95. It came at about 5 p.m. on March 30, 2010, as record downpours were drenching the entire region of southeastern Connecticut and Washington County, R.I.

This sudden surge, though, didn't come directly from the sky, but from the 179 million gallons of water pouring out of nearby Blue Pond when the old earthen dam that pooled the waters of Canonchet Brook collapsed. When years of neglect - the dam owners had been notified twice by the state in 2007 that the dam needed repairs - met the deluge of 2010, the pressure from the rising waters proved too much for the weakened structure to withstand.

"No work was ever undertaken to fix the problems, and during the flood, nobody was watching this dam," said David Chopy, chief of the Office of Compliance and Inspection at the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management. "It was just luck that nobody got hurt or killed when the dam ruptured and the water started pouring over the embankment."

Dam owner Ashville Corp. and its parent company, Greene Plastics, a bead manufacturer also on Canon-chet Road, were fined about $55,000 by the state for not maintaining the dam. The company has appealed the fine. A message left with Greene Plastics officials requesting comment was not returned.

Chopy said four other dams in the state also collapsed during the 2010 floods, but none of the owners had been previously notified about needed repairs, so no fines were levied. At least three of the others were, like the Blue Pond dam, privately owned.

"What all five had in common was that they were all poorly maintained, and none of them were being monitored by anyone" during the flood, he said. Though no one can say for sure, it's possible that placement of sandbags and other emergency measures during the flood could have prevented collapse, he said.

In southeastern Connecticut, several state- and privately owned dams were damaged by the floods and needed repairs, but only one collapsed, said Art Christian, supervising civil engineer of the dam safety section of the state Department of Environmental Protection. That dam was on Phillips Pond in the Pachaug State Forest, far enough from any homes for the draining waters to cause damage. Christian said it will be rebuilt.

About $250,000 worth of repairs will be done on the dams at Glasgo, Beachdale and Beach ponds, all on the Pachaug River in Griswold and Voluntown, once the Federal Emergency Management Agency provides about 80 percent of the funds to cover the work, he added.

"We would have preferred to do it right away, but we had to wait to get the cost-sharing money from

FEMA," he said. "We're hoping to get the work done this summer."

One dam inspector in R.I.

Harold Ward, professor emeritus of environmental studies at Brown University in Providence, has the views of both an expert and an affected homeowner of what can happen when a dam is neglected. Ward lives in Hope Valley, R.I., and the waters from Blue Pond reached his property, which had never flooded like this before, he said. He was forced out of his home for two weeks after 6 feet of water filled his home. A geothermal furnace, three freezers, an oil tank and a tool collection were lost or badly damaged, he said.

The lesson of the 2010 floods, he said, is simple.

"People should fix their dams when they're leaking, or take them down," he said. Particularly as climate change is increasing extreme rainfall events, dam inspections and maintenance need to become a higher priority, he said.

"There's one dam inspector for the whole state," he said.

Statewide, there are 671 dams, according to Gail Mastrati, spokeswoman for the Rhode Island DEM. Connecticut has 4,300 dams and two inspectors, Chrisian of the Connecticut DEP said.

After the waters receded, Ward calculated how much of the flooding had come from Blue Pond. Based on measurements from stream gauges upstream and downstream of the pond, he estimated the collapse added 3 feet to the peak water heights during the flood.

His assessment of the inaction by the Blue Pond dam owner: "unconscionable."

Michael Kennedy, a Waterford resident who has owned property on Canonchet Road for two decades, is also disgusted by the situation. The force of the water after the dam broke, he said, ripped up a 15-ton bridge that was the only access to his land, where he had someday hoped to build a house. There is a also a pond on his property. The surge carried a huge chunk of land and deposited it in the pond, along with a large tree that wedged itself in the dam at one end. Granite blocks in the dam structure were thrown loose. Repairs thus far haven't been possible because of access problems.

Kennedy, a former Millstone worker "immersed in the safety culture" who now works as a consultant, said he's long been a conscientious dam owner, making sure his dam was kept in good repair and even serving on a Rhode Island task force on dam safety in 2001.

"It bothers me that Greene Plastics was so negligent," he said. "There's a lot of anger."

He contacted Greene Plastics, he said, and was told to contact its insurance company, which denied his claim. Now he and some of his neighbors are talking with a lawyer about a class-action suit, citing a Rhode Island law that puts liability for impacts from dam failures on the dam owners. Among those planning to be part of the suit is Kathy Palmer.

"I lost a small barn, a swing set and a covered bridge to the back of my property, and my septic system was under water and a lot of our soil washed away," she said. Other neighbors, she added, lost cars. The only assistance she was able to get, she added, was a $10,000 loan for repairs.

"That dam had been in disrepair for a lot of years and we all knew it," she said.

Her neighbor, Ivar Babb, said Greene Plastics told him after the flood that he and his neighbors shouldn't expect any compensation. Babb, director of the Northeast Undersea Research Technology & Education Center at the University of Connecticut at Avery Point in Groton, recorded a video of the damage to his neighborhood in the immediate aftermath, so there's at least a historical record of what the dam break caused.

"They (Greene Plastics) said it wasn't their problem, it was a freak event they weren't responsible for," said Babb, who lost a greenhouse on his property. He said he considered suing, but a lawyer told him the expense would probably exceed any settlement.

Beyond the property damage, the scouring and erosion from the dam surge has changed the natural landscape of the area, Palmer and Kennedy said, altering the wetlands and woods in its path. Blue Pond itself has drained completely, and Greene Plastics has not informed DEM that it has any plan to rebuild the dam.

"It'll just naturally revegetate back into the kind of wetland it was before the dam was built," Chopy said.

Christopher Fox, executive director of the Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Association, said the story of the Blue Pond dam should serve as a warning.

"If there was a hero of the storm, it was that more of these decrepit dams that haven't seen maintenance in 50 years didn't collapse," he said. "This is a wake-up call telling us, 'Repair your dams or prepare to have them removed, one way or another.'"

[email protected]

[powderfreak]

Was this the storm that Will hung himself from the rafters due to 4" of rain at 34F?

But the weather was really nice right before it... <duck and run> lol

[Ginx snewx]

[MaineJayhawk]

There was flooding? I didn't hear of this.

[Baroclinic Zone]

There was flooding? I didn't hear of this.

'Twas mere puddles.

[Damage In Tolland]

[Ginx snewx]

There was flooding? I didn't hear of this.

Both of those articles were very well written. Thought a remembrance of what was a 500 year flood for some might provoke some discussion but also figured responses like yours and Kevs would be more common.

[MaineJayhawk]

Both of those articles were very well written. Thought a remembrance of what was a 500 year flood for some might provoke some discussion but also figured responses like yours and Kevs would be more common.

Relax, big guy. I understand it was a major deal down that way.

[CoastalWx]

Wasn't that big of a deal in sw RI.

[Ginx snewx]

[Ginx snewx]

[Ginx snewx]

http://its-ct.org/documents/meetings-events/RI-Flood.pdf

[Shaun Curry]

Thanks to that flooding, I now have a sump pump and a wet vac. While my basement got wet, I was so much luckier than some as I was able to keep the water level in the basement to a couple of inches before the plumbers came with a pump. I woke up that morning to see one set of neighbors being taken out of their house by the fire department in a boat. We were pumping out water at my folk's house for weeks after the flooding started. The images are of my backyard along the edge of which runs Indian Run Brook which is usually about eight feet wide and 6 inches deep.

[Ginx snewx]

The official NWS report, with Turtle as coauthor

ftp://ftpext.usgs.gov/pub/er/ny/troy/Tri-Agency-Meeting/Belk%20SNE_Floods_TriAgency.pptx

[TalcottWx]

You guys are evil bstrds poor steve

[weatherMA]

I remember going for a run and then finding a road blocked off because it was flooded with 3' of water. I had never seen flooding like that in my own town...just videos.

[Ginx snewx]

You guys are evil bstrds poor steve

Eh, totally expected and NBD, was told that some of the recommendations in the official report were because of my constant bitching here, so good came out of my insanity.

These were on the report and were my main issues.

nIdentify maximum reportable stages at key river gages

nContinue to convey to customers/partners NWS capabilities during potential dam failures

nEstablish forecast points on Pawcatuck River

[Ginx snewx]

Blue Pond Dam Hopkinton RI failure before and after

[moneypitmike]

I had forgotten about those floods, Steve. Thanks for the flashback.

[klw]

this photo said it all for me.

[rboarderi]

I live in niantic ct. My crawl space flooded with over 2 feet of water. Entire furnace and water heater and oil tank were under water.

[HoarfrostHubb]

I was at my mom's today in Jamestown. She is still dealing with some of the effects of the flood and the $30K in damage to her house

At least no one died. Her situation was weird in that it was groundwater flooding instead of river and stream flooding. Water table rose to the surface

[Turtle]

The official NWS report, with Turtle as coauthor

ftp://ftpext.usgs.go..._TriAgency.pptx

WOW, I didn't even know I did this!!

Can't read it here at work...will check it out when I get home.

--Turtle

[Ginx snewx]

WOW, I didn't even know I did this!!

Can't read it here at work...will check it out when I get home.

--Turtle

LOL on two counts, can not read your own stuff at work? US gov't for ya.

[Ginx snewx]

You guys thought I was nuts when I ranted about RI EM being a disaster. This quote is from the official NWS report

nThe NWS can assist by running real-time dam breach simulations

nBUT ONLY IF WE KNOW ABOUT THEM

[ORH_wxman]

The flooding there was totally over blown.

[Ginx snewx]

The flooding there was totally over blown.

Blow this

[Turtle]

Can't read it here at work...will check it out when I get home.

LOL on two counts, can not read your own stuff at work? US gov't for ya.

:lmao:

Finally got to see the show here at home. Wouldn't download the file into the computer at work...probably some firewall issue (don't even get me started...).

Yep, Nicole used some of my slides from the show I did for the former online forum's meeting in Baltimore last year. I have added some slides and changed others, which was the show I used at the Northeastern Storm Conference. Nicole had some good info in there. LOVED the "if we only knew..." quote. Priceless!!!

--Turtle

[HoarfrostHubb]

The flooding there was totally over blown.

I hope this was with tongue planted firmly in Ginx's cheek