The Great Flood

Left: Scene of flooding from my window, March 15, 2010, 6:17 pm.

Below: View upstream from the Windsor Village culvert, March 15, 2010, 4:09 pm.

These photos and the slideshow, below, remind us not only of nature’s raw power, but also what can happen when the drainage system of lovely Hardy Pond is abused or neglected.

Denial. A few months before the two historic floods of March 2010, it became known that the Windsor Village culvert — located on Chester Brook, the drainage outlet for Hardy Pond — had partially collapsed, reducing its flow capacity by half. City officials resisted calls for emergency steps. In these photos, you can see the result.

Neglect. A similar situation now exists in the outlet channel that drains Hardy Pond into Chester Brook. The channel has become silted up — probably as a result of the 2010 floods — and has lost much of its flow capacity. It badly needs cleaning or dredging, as an outside engineering study (pdf) has recently recommended. So far, little has been done.

Floods. The photo below shows a swollen Chester Brook just upstream of the Windsor Village culvert at the height of the first, and greater flood. The stream reached this height all the way back to Hardy Pond. Nearly as I could tell, the water outside my window (top photo) was at this elevation as well. I may have been off a bit in the latter estimate, but I have no doubt that the partially collapsed culvert made the flooding around the pond worse — probably much worse — than it otherwise would have been. This shouldn’t be allowed to happen again, with the culprit next time the clogged outlet channel.

Ecosystem. Flood prevention, of course, must be a high priority for those who live around the pond and saw their homes threatened in 2010. But there’s another, compelling reason to maintain proper drainage: it promotes a healthy pond ecosystem. By flushing away decaying organic matter, for example, it helps prevent oxygen depletion. It also reduces pollutants such as road salt, or lawn and garden chemicals that wash into the pond, or airborne pollutants that dissolve in the water.

Photographs. For most of my flood photos, I stuck close to home, because of the difficulty of moving around in the torrential rain on the first day, and then concern about the rising water in my basement after that. I really didn’t feel a need to roam; the events unfolding right outside my window were riveting. I’ll confess to a high level of nervous energy during the first flood — part excitement and part concern, I guess — making it difficult for me to balance the twin goals of recording the dramatic events, while doing so artfully.

Both floods were rated “100-year,” and took place March 15-18th and March 30-31st, respectively. Most photos here are of the first and mightier of the two, what I’ve dubbed “The Great Flood.”

Slide Show.Click thumbnails, or use keyboard arrows to view slides. Click any image to enlarge. Note: Slide show is presently incomplete; more photos remain to be added.
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