Heavy Rain Tests Road Crews

By Andrew Gorosko

In view of the potential for this week’s heavy rains causing flooding over the Turkey Hill Road bridge above the Pootatuck River, which would prevent traffic from traveling over that span, the town road crew on Tuesday took some steps to provide an alternate accessway to that area.

The crew physically linked the two adjacent turnaround circles of the dead-end Turkey Hill Road and the dead-end Little Brook Lane, providing a temporary emergency accessway to the Turkey Hill Road area neighborhood via Little Brook Lane.

Town Emergency Management Director Bill Halstead said that town officials sent “Code Red” automated telephone calls to 120 telephone numbers in the area of Turkey Hill Road, Turkey Hill Terrace, Little Brook Lane, Nearbrook Drive, and River Run, explaining to residents that the potential for bridge flooding resulted in the decision to link the two turnaround circles with a temporary road to provide an emergency accessway to the neighborhood.

As it turned out, the Turkey Hill Road bridge was not submerged, but it had appeared to be on the verge of going under water Tuesday afternoon with the river’s surging flow striking the underside of the bridge’s deck.

Such a temporary emergency road linkage is designed to provide emergency vehicles and residents with an alternate access for the neighborhood in the event of bridge flooding or other problems that would put the bridge out of service.

Joe Tani, the town road department’s operations manager, said that the road crew spent about two hours linking Little Brook Lane to Turkey Hill Road. That work included moving some large boulders that normally are positioned to prevent vehicular travel between the two turnaround circles, as well as creating a temporary crushed-stone road between the two circles. The connecting road is about 60 feet long. The temporary road was still in place Thursday morning.

Besides the construction of that temporary road, the heavy rains on Monday and Tuesday resulted in local volunteer firefighters responding to many calls to pump out flooded basements.

When the rains came, they fell on soils that were already saturated with moisture from previous rainstorms which occurred during what was one of the wettest months of March in memory. The saturated soils caused high stormwater runoff rates, resulting in flooding in some basements that are likely to accumulate water in such situations.   

Firefighters responded to flooded basement calls from residents on streets including Queen Street, Valley View Road, The Boulevard, Hanover Road, Plumtrees Road, High Bridge Road, Birch Hill Road, Hattertown Road, Dayton Street, Dinglebrook Lane, and Walnut Tree Hill Road. (See Fire Reports for a full list.)

Also, Country Club Brook, the stream that travels north-to-south through the Ram Pasture at South Main Street, grew much broader than normal, resulting in some ponding occurring upstream of Hawley Pond. 

Similarly, the heavy rain that fell in areas of poor drainage creating some ponding at Fairfield Hills at an athletic field near Kent House, and also near Shelton House. When viewed from certain angles, Shelton House appeared to be surrounded by a moat.

Also, the high volume rain that fell into the Housatonic River watershed was well illustrated by the intense voluminous water flow that gushed out of the floodgates at Stevenson Dam. 

Considering that several inches of rain fell on town during Monday and Tuesday, high water conditions locally were not as bad as he had anticipated, Mr Tani said.

“It really wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be...I was actually surprised that [high water] wasn’t worse than it was,” he said.

Road Erosion

An unpaved section of Deep Brook Road experienced flooding during the heavy rain, he said. Also, some dirt roads received heavy erosion, including Point O’ Rocks Road and Ox Hill Road, he said.

Also, a large culvert that drains away water from the athletic field lying behind Hawley School on Church Hill Road became clogged, resulting in several backyards along the adjacent west side of The Boulevard experiencing some ponding, he said. Road crew members went to the scene twice get the drainage system working again, Mr Tani said.

About 25 town road crew members were busy all day on Monday and Tuesday ensuring that stormwater drainage devices across town were working properly, he added. Work largely included clearing blocked stormwater drainage grates and removing debris from culverts.

On Wednesday, town workers used equipment heavy equipment to repair dirt roads that were damaged by the heavy rain, he said.

Under heavy rain, such dirt roads can become heavily eroded with swift drainage flow that cuts gullies into their surfaces either parallel or perpendicular to those roads’ edges, he explained. Road grading machines are later used to spread earthen fill onto the roads to reestablish their contours.

During the stormy conditions, town workers checked for drainage problems near 97 Hanover Road, a location where beaver activity, coupled with heavy rain, has caused flooding problems in the past. Although water levels were high in that area, no flooding occurred on Hanover Road or at a nearby driveway.

Although the flood-prone Shady Rest residential development off Walnut Tree Hill Road, which lies along the edge of Lake Zoar, experienced some high water levels, conditions there were “not that bad,” Mr Halstead said.   

“We were actually pretty lucky,” Mr Halstead said of the relatively few problems that occurred due to the heavy rain.

Had the ground been frozen when the heavy rains occurred, high water conditions would have been worse, he said.