Disaster area declared from flooding, response underway

Following a meeting in Mayor Joseph Polisena’s office on Thursday morning with federal, state, and local officials, a plan is now in place to address the flooding issues on Belfield Drive, which has now been designated a local disaster area.

At the meeting were members of the Department of Transportation (DOT), the Department of Environmental Management, Northern Rhode Island Conservation, Department of Public Works, along with representatives from Senator Jack Reed, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, and Congressman Jim Langevin’s office.

“There’s no instant gratification in life, it’s not going to happen right away, but we’re going to get to work on something that will be beneficial to that area of Johnston that seems to flood,” said Polisena. “We know that it’s important that we have to straighten out the problem, but we’ve come up with a solution and I think it’s great.”

Authorities believe that the flooding is being exacerbated by a the old driving range from the former Golden Triangle golf center. A decades-old culvert through the property appears to have been compromised, and water is not flowing the way it did in the past which has flooded the lower portion of Belfield.

Pooh Vongkhandy, a State Conservationist from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Resource Conservation Service (USDANRCS), said that his department has an emergency watershed program containing easement money to buy two homes that are flooded.

“Then we’re going to rebuild the culvert on Belfield Drive. When we move the people out, we’re going to have more storage for the water and we’re going to raise up the road so that we can take care of emergencies, that people can go to work and be able to use the road,” said Vongkhandy.

Vongkhandy said that long term solutions include taking care of the culvert that’s blocked with the debris . That culvert pipe is part of the Pocasset River.

“Someone has manipulated the river by using the pipe to replace that section of river. Now that pipe is clogged up and it’s backed up the water,” said Vongkhandy.

It’s believed that the culvert is well over 50 years old, and with heavy dumping on the culvert it’s compromised the structure.

“We feel that what they’re doing [with the culvert] that it’s a pretty good reason because that property was really polluted. So to have an open, running river through there that can carry a lot of contamination. So the solution is a good idea to have it go underground and not have water run through that property,” said Vongkhandy. “It’s a practical idea, but the thing is there was no maintenance and no one taking care of it and we don’t know what type of pipe was built in there.”

This area has been declared a local disaster by the USDANRCS, entitled the November Flooding Event. Vongkhandy said a letter will be sent to his headquarters in Washington DC requesting funding to take care of the problem. When the money is received, the work will start, but Vongkhandy was unsure when those federal funds would be received.

“This plan is a comprehensive plan that will be implemented in partnership with our local, state, and federal partners. Speaking specifically to the road, the goal here is to provide access, emergency access, as well as provide additional flood storage,” said Alan Gillespie, State Conservation Engineer for the USDANRCS. “So the plan would be to actually acquire the immediate lot to the flooding, restore it to a flood plain, and raise the road to allow traffic in and out of Bellfield Drive.”

The homes will be assessed and then voluntarily acquired through a federal government easement program and removed. Those homes are 51 and 68 Bellfield Drive.

“This is a voluntary program, so should the participants want to apply, they will be considered. There is no imminent domain, this would solely be at their request,” said Gillespie.

Should those residents decline, the project could not move forward.

“We cannot build the culvert or all of that then because if we do that the water will flood to them,” said Vongkhandy. He added that these residents had been contacted by the federal government in the past. However they didn’t qualify for the program after the flooding in 2010 as there needed to be two flooding events to be considered.

Ownership of the defective culvert has not yet been determined. It remains unclear, should ownership be found, if that party would be financially responsible for any of the cleanup or the proposed project at this time. Polisena said phase two of the plan will be to apply for a federal grant to remediate the area’s brownfield-a polluted area that was a former dump.

There are no plans to bring in a pump to remove what’s there. According to Polisena, a 2,000-gallon-a-minute pump was brought to the area with more than 2,500 feet of hose, but that effort was unsuccessful. In four days of pump usage, the water only receded a half an inch.

“It’s definitely an inconvenience, but there’s nothing the town can do to immediately get rid of the water,” said Polisena. “[The residents] have to be patient, and I know it’s easy for me to say because I don’t like there, but we have other areas of the town too that we have flooding issues with, but eventually it will subside.”

Deputy Chief Razza has monitored the situation daily, visiting at least three times a day including on Thanksgiving.

“We would offer to them to move their cars to the other side of the road where it’s dry, and then what we would do is we would pick them up at their homes with the Humvees that we have and take them to their car so that they could go to work and so they could come home or do their shopping,” said the mayor. “I don’t think there’s any other police department in the state of Rhode Island that would do that.”

Police have stationed a Humvee near the scene of the flooding for transportation, and residents can call police headquarters to schedule a ride. On the Fire Department side, a Humvee has been turned into a rescue vehicle that can accommodate a stretcher that’s ready to be used if needed. In addition to the Humvee, fire trucks can readily access the area.

“It’s not a public safety issue,” said Polisena. “I can put my head down on the pillow at night knowing that the people are safe, especially as a former firefighter.”

Under the current plan, Polisena said Route 295, located at the dead end of Belfield, will not be opened as permission will not be granted by the Federal Highway Administration.

Eric Beck, Chief of Groundwater and Freshwater Wetlands Protection at DEM, recommends limiting contact with the floodwater.

“I do believe that there’s very little to no chance of contaminants from the dump area, if there are any, being expressed in this area mostly because it’s upstream by quite a bit,” said, Beck, who added that the homes affected are quite some distance away and aren’t a concern. “The bottom line is that, as far as contaminants, they’re so far upstream it’s not like the water would be in contact with anything downgradient.”

He added that measures be taken if contact is made with the floodwaters, as surface contaminants and bacteria may be present.

“Our message is take precautions, wash your boots and hands,” he said.