Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Gettin' higher!

I went out in the car again this afternoon and found that the river is, indeed, rising at near expected rates. Here are some of the photos and a few quick videos:

This is the corn field across the street from our house. It has not been farmed for a few years, but it is normally 'high and dry' in all but the heaviest flooding.





Here is another video (and a still shot) of the Tariffville Gorge dam (in Simsbury) with levels quite a bit higher than the same location yesterday (see the video posted yesterday).



Water is rising.



It looks like the western part of Connecticut will be spared major flooding situations as the rain tapered off some last night. However, it was a heavy downpour for the better part of the morning. I checked the USGS stream levels and saw that they are controlling the flow from the Goodwin Dam (west branch of the Farmington River) to help reduce the flow - a strategy that looks as though it is working. I took the pictures and video during the early afternoon yesterday (Monday, 3/29) and will get out again tomorrow (Wednesday, 3/30) to revisit some of the same locations.

Eastern Connecticut and Rhode Island are in bad shape at this hour. The Yantic River will crest above record stages at some point tonight and rivers in Rhode Island are already at record levels with evacuations beginning to occur in some areas. Thankfully, it appears as though the majority of the rain will be through falling by this evening. Providence has had over 7" of rain in the past 48 hours and tides are high due to the lunar cycle!!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

It's not '55, but more flooding is on the way!


Maple and Water, Naugatuck
The corner of Maple and Water streets in Naugatuck at the height of the Flood of 1955 on Aug. 19, 1955.

Courtesy of the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut Libraries.


In the late summer of 1955, Connecticut was struck by two successive tropical storms that effectively submerged many areas of the state. The infamous Flood of '55 is still evident in the landscape and still in the minds of most who lived in the region at that time. Lives and homes were lost, businesses were destroyed, and the general infrastructure of dozens of communities was rendered inoperable for weeks.

While the past two weeks have seen one storm after another move through the area, the total rainfall will not match that of '55. However, with many rivers still high, and with the ground still saturated from the winter melt and recent rains, the storm that is arriving tonight is sure to bring the Farmington, Connecticut, Housatonic, and other rivers to flood stage once again.

I will be out and about with the camera for the next several days to document the surge and the ebb of this pending nor'easter!