NORWICH – After being forced from his home twice in three years by flood waters, at least one west side resident would rather be safe than sorry – again.
“We don’t want to take any chances,” says Charlie Berry, who lives just a few feet from the Canasawacta Creek.
Specifically, Berry is asking that the City of Norwich clear out fallen trees from the creek near the Red Mill Hill bridge. He fears the trees could come loose and pile up in the stream this winter, create an natural dam, and cause flooding when the snow and ice melts in the spring.
“If they ignore this, it could put a lot of people in peril again,” Berry said. “We’re all a little paranoid right now, but if it does dam-up, it could be a catastrophe.”
Berry said if nothing was done, he planned to circulate a petition in his neighborhood that supports filing a class-action lawsuit if the trees do prove to cause more flooding at a later date.
City of Norwich Public Works Superintendent Carl Ivarson said Tuesday that there was no more work scheduled to be done in the creek this year. The city removed the Canasawacta Creek dam earlier this past June after a group of west side residents claimed it caused the flooding in June 2006.
“We’ve done all our work,” Ivarson said.
Wednesday, however, Mayor Joseph Maiurano said the city was aware of the trees, and would take care of them in the near future, but he could not offer a specific date.
“We’ll go in there at some point and take care of it,” Maiurano said. “Right now it doesn’t appear to pose any kind of danger,” he said, pointing to currently low water levels in the creek.
Maiurano said while giving residents peace of mind, he isn’t sure if removing the dam or the trees can prevent a repeat of recent floods, which were the strongest in 500 years, local emergency experts say.
“If we get that much rain again it’s going to flood,” he said. “There’s not much we can do.”
Speaking in general, Todd Dreyer, the city’s Planning and Community Development specialist, said last week that blockages in creeks and rivers can divert water and in some instances create unsafe situations, but he could not say if the trees at Red Mill bridge posed any sort of threat. Dreyer said he had seen recent pictures of the area, and acknowledged the trees in question looked relatively small in diameter and that, if anything, they were worth looking at in terms of measuring their possible threat to the bridge’s integrity.
“I know they’re in a predicament,” Berry said, referring to staff shortages at the public works department. “But I would hate to see anything else happen.”