In these pictures you can see how much the canal water has receded…in spite of the deluge we received from Tropical Storm Lee...the bottom picture shows the brown foliage left from receding water.

This picture shows a substantial sand bar being created in the middle of the neglected canal. It doubled in size with the run-off of Hurricane Irene and TS Lee. If something isn’t done, the canal will be dammed up. Maybe that’s what Ahlstrom (sp) is waiting for. Ahlstrom is the company that bought Dexter Paper Co. The Dexter family owned the canal and every year they would drain it, make repairs and dredge if necessary. Ahlstrom refuses to do it and refuses to allow anyone else do it. Since the canal is on the National Historic Register, this is pretty sad.

One of my favorite spots along the path is where the water flows under the railroad bridge…especially when the water is high and swift. The top picture is from Aug. 31. The bottom two taken today.

The river giveth…look at all the junk left at the base of the canal wall. The top picture shows what it looked like flooded.

And the river taketh away…there used to be a pile of trees and other river debris piled on the right...toward the open river. This flood took it all away.

I call this picture Reflections. It shows the trees, a beautiful cloud, and the sun reflected in Stony Brook where it flows beneath the canal to the Connecticut River.

Another Storm…More Flooding

After the clean up following Irene I called the condo management people and asked for help in preventing the window well flooding. They said someone would be over to caulk the window AND the well.

Well.

I popped out of bed this morning at 5:30 (having been awakened by something) and ran down to the basement just in time to see the first trickle of water come over the window sill. I stuffed towels everywhere I could and ran upstairs to gather umbrella, rain jacket, flashlight, shovel and small pan…and out I went in the torrential downpour wearing my nightgown and thin summer bathrobe.

I bailed and bailed until I almost reached bottom. In the meantime, I was able to figure out why my window well floods. As water pours off the entryway roof (no gutter) it digs a channel in the soil. This is, in essence, a long narrow pond that empties right into the window well. AH HA!

That’s where the shovel came in. After getting out of my soaked clothes, I put on my bathing suit and boots so I could dig a ditch out to the sidewalk. It is obvious the lay of the land is all wrong! It dips in the wrong direction. (Can’t you just see this crazy lady out in the dark and pouring rain in a bathing suit and boots wielding a shovel and bailing pan?)

You can’t tell me the young couple who lived here before me didn’t have the same problem. Because the basement was not finished at that time, I guess they didn’t care and just let it flood. There were a lot of things they apparently let go…I would love to see their new house.

Another call to condo management and I told them I want someone out here TODAY! Actually they have been very nice and understanding. I expect a crew here sometime this morning and I’ll show them the problem and let them solve it. Actually I have already solved it, but they need to re-dig my ditch and caulk the well and window.

Then I’m going to take them around out back and show them the standing water there. My neighbor has at least 3” of water at her back door…always…whenever it rains.

I don’t want to be on vacation in a couple of weeks and have to worry about my basement flooding.

My problem is minuscule compared to what others are going through…but to me it’s huge.