Hanover Road—

Heavy Rain Plus Beavers Equals Flooding 

By Andrew Gorosko

Heavy rains on Monday night, coupled with recent beaver activity that plugged a stormwater drainage pipe beneath Hanover Road, caused water levels in a large swamp alongside that street to rise markedly by Tuesday morning, resulting in water flowing over that road and flooding occurring at a residential driveway at 97 Hanover Road.

When residents Bridget Seaman and her husband James Walker arose Tuesday morning, they realized that that combination of factors had again resulted in their driveway flooding over, blocking their vehicular access to Hanover Road.

“My husband, Jim, and my dad tend to all of the beaver dams on our side of the road. And Jim will even go across [Hanover Road] and break them up on the [Newtown Forest Association] land. But if the town won’t work with us on the pipe under the road and the culvert over at Cavanaugh Pond, then it’s all for nothing. We may [just] as well let the beaver just plug everything up,” Ms Seaman said.

“The road is crumbling at the edges and at some point there will be an accident out there because of the flooding. What’s the town waiting for — someone to get seriously hurt or killed?” she asked. 

Alerted of the driveway flooding problem on Tuesday morning, town road crew members responded to the scene with equipment that allowed them to unplug a blocked three-foot-diameter drainage pipe which directs water from the swamp on the west side of the street to the east side of the street and then onward to Cavanaugh Pond, which lies downstream at Echo Valley Road.

Recurring beaver activity in that area has repeatedly resulted in the culvert becoming blocked, posing flooding conditions following heavy rains.

Fred Hurley, town director of public works, said that industrious beavers had once again plugged up the culvert, resulting in the swamp’s waters overtopping the road. Beavers are active spring through fall and have repeatedly caused such problems, he noted.

Mr Hurley said the town would work with Ms Seaman and Mr Walker in seeking to solve their driveway flooding problem which occurs under such circumstances.

Joe Tani, the operations manager for the town road department, said Wednesday that town road staffers have been monitoring conditions at the road flooding site to ensure that water is freely flowing through the culvert beneath Hanover Road.

Town workers took some measurements at the driveway at 97 Hanover Road that could potentially be  used as a basis of information toward raising the level of that driveway, he said.

Mr Tani said the town is seeking to find some solution to the recurring flooding problem, adding that it is unclear how such a driveway improvement project would be funded.

Flooding in the area is caused when elevated water levels in the swamp following heavy rains are unable to drain away through the culvert because beavers have plugged the drainage pipe with debris, he said.

Mr Tani said the road crew responds to the area after receiving complaints about flooding there.

The road crew handles beaver-related problems at about six places in town, including Boggs Hill Road, Cemetery Road, and Meadow Brook Road, he said.