Shelter, a Basic Human Need; the Flood of 2005.
It happened this day five years ago. Lack of leadership continiues to threaten the safety of dozens of members of our community, read more»
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Comments:
Posted on 24 Aug 2011, 12:22 by lives on the south basinopen the flood gate!
Are town officials not watching the news? Up to twelve inches of rain over the weekend? Why are they not open the flood gate to drain as much water as possible to avoid a repeat of the 2005 flood?
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Posted on 24 Aug 2011, 17:12 by Peter Frei
Please no name calling..
I will delete any comments with name calling..
Please civilized comments only!
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Posted on 25 Aug 2011, 14:22 by lives on the south basin
Thanks!
I see the floodgates have been opened; better late than never, thanks!
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Posted on 25 Aug 2011, 23:11 by this time thanks guys
town is on it
they have been open for two days i live by the dam pay attention if your so concerned
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Posted on 26 Aug 2011, 9:04 by Peter Frei
No solution.. as ususal..
Opening the flood gates a couple of days before a storm/hurricane of this size is a joke! The lake can only be lowered about 4" a day. By Sunday, the lake will be lower by 16" to 18", that's all. It will just delay the inevitable!
If there is not a miracle happening, the lake in the south of the cause way will rise 60 inches or 5 feet, that's a given. Most Likely the causeway will be washed out on the north side as it happened in 2005. It will be quickly fixed without adding a second culvert and the time until it happens again will be shorter each time.
If the town would be, like the previous comment suggests, "on it," the town would have installed a second culvert by now.
The only solution to prevent flooding of low lying houses on the south side of the causeway would be blocking the causeway, digging up part of the causeway so the water will not be dammed, order an other culvert pipe and install the second culvert while fixing the road next week which will get washed out again anyway.
Here is an interesting read:
Trends in Extreme Precipitaion Events for the Northeastern United States, 1948-2007.
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Posted on 26 Aug 2011, 14:11 by Jim L
GREAT!!!!!!
Count your blessings. With the drought in the west we are fortunate. Unless you live in a flood prone area.
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Posted on 28 Aug 2011, 12:14 by Roadrunner
Rt 20 closed
Rt20 is closed between Brimfield and Sturbridge. Don't try to use Stallien Road to get around it, there is agree down and that road is closed too.
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Posted on 1 Sep 2011, 7:54 by Peter Frei
Miracles happen..
For once I'm glad I was wrong with my prediction, the cause way did not get flooded and as far as I know everybody's house around the lake stayed dry.
Hurricane Irene was foremost a wind event and not a rain event, at least around here. Irene made landfall in North Carolina and traveled from there along the coast and not over open water minimizing Irene's capability to feed on more moisture over the open water.
The center of the storm traveled west of us and brought rainfalls of 18 inches within 24 hours to many places in New York state and Vermont; we received considerably less.
Who ever opened the flood gates at the dam did the right thing and the release of water helped a great deal and made all the difference, thank you!
This time we - the ones who live close to the lake - got away without being flooded, next time we might not be as lucky. It is imperative that the town will remedy the threat by installing a second culvert at the causeway.
It will happen again, it is just a matter of time.
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Posted on 15 Oct 2011, 14:14 by Open the Causeway
Open the Causeway
I had no idea the causeway was once much larger and it seems passible by small vessels. I believe doing a causeway project and making a much larger passageway would not only decrease the chances of future floods but would also raise property values for the homes on and surrounding the lake. Connecting the two lakes would make the actual lake size to prospective buyers almost double the size!
It seems foolish to put so many homes in danger and also foolish to spend money rebuilding something that was not adequately built in the first place.
Is this being considered by town officials? If not why? How can we bring this to their attention. I believe it's better to deal with things before they are emergency situations. Why wait until days before another disaster. plan ahead.
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Posted on 26 Oct 2011, 19:12 by David Winter
Causeway Culverts
This is in regards to the October 15 comment about "opening the causeway". I have also been told that at one time small boats could go through the culvert under the causeway. I questioned this because the maximum height of the water in the culvert is going to limited to the maximum height of the pond, which is more or less governed by the water height at the spillway. I see water near or going over the spillway all the time, so how could the water in the culvert be any lower than that? The guy who told me this, a long time resident, said that at that time the water never used to go over the spillway. He said the pond has greatly silted up over the years causing the water level to rise. That is, it would be much less navigable if the water was at the level needed to get a boat under the existing culvert and not be constantly going over the spillway.
I'm not a hydrologist but I think the problem is much greater than "simply" adding another culvert. I think you'd have to raise the road bed and put in a taller culvert. But even then I don't know if would be guaranteed to prevent flooding. I imagine the red tape even to add a second culvert would be immense. And probably even greater if the road bed needed to be raised. Not to mention the cost if the roadway had to be raised. If the culvert was fixed it may mitigate the risk of flooding to some extent but the problem of silting would still remain. I think that is the real problem that needs to be addressed.
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Posted on 27 Oct 2011, 8:35 by Peter Frei
Causeway Culvert
The water level at the spill way can only go lower than the spillway during dry periods. The Department of Environmental Protection requires a minimal flow for the Mashapaug River. If you have more water flowing out of Hamilton Reservoir (through the flood gate) as flowing in, the level will go lower than the spill way.
We are on relatively high ground, only surrounding hillsides feed the rainwater into Hamilton. What I observed over the years is that short periods of heavy rain cause the lake level to rise. The lake level only rises on the southern part of the lake, south of the causeway.
The only reason for this is the inept culvert which turns the causeway into a dam.
As mentioned in my piece, on October 15, 2005, the causeway was washed out by the water going over the causeway. To wash out the causeway there had to be a difference in height for the water to rush down. I was there and noticed a difference of about three feed (top of causeway to the level of the lake on the north side of the causeway.
Raising the road bed would only dam the water to a higher level, hence make the situation worse.
Once the rain stopped on October 15, 2005, the runoff feed by the surrounding hills continued for about two hours. Once the feeding brooks and streams were at a normal level, the lake level decreased at a rate of about one inch an hour.
One additional culvert of the same size as the existing culvert would mitigate the situation. Two additional culverts of the same size would eliminate the problem.
The problem of sediments and silt is a different issue as long as the silt does not decrease the size of the openings of the culverts, hence decrease the flow through the culverts.
I think everybody would agree with me that we see more and more extreme weather. The next flood will happen, it is just a matter of time...
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Posted on 27 Oct 2011, 19:44 by Private Smegma
huh...
"He said the pond has greatly silted up over the years causing the water level to rise"
Maybe if a certain resident didnt dump 4 tons of sand into the lake to create a private beach we wouldnt have that issue...
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Posted on 27 Oct 2011, 20:27 by No Problem
Hundreds of tons.
How about the hundreds of tons of sand spread on Holland roads each winter that washes into the lake each spring? How about the washouts on Maybrook and many other Holland Dirt Roads that contributed thousands of tons of silt into the lake. How about the septic system on Mashapaug just south of the causeway that washed into the lake. ......
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