For the Barcellos family of Belfield Drive, the fall of 2018 is looking a lot like the spring of 2010.
Eight years ago, their home at the bottom of the hill was unreachable, with water as deep as five feet in some places during the historic flooding. Mayor Joseph Polisena even toured the family’s front yard road by rowboat, calling the flooding “an absolute disaster.”
Belfield Drive was perhaps the hardest hit area of Johnston in 2010, as many homeowners who had never before taken on water found themselves calling the Fire Department and the Department of Public Works in the wake of more than eight inches of rain in two days.
Now, it’s like déjà vu all over again.
This month is the second wettest November on record, with well over 10 inches of rain recorded. It’s also the second wettest season on record, with more than 24 inches of rain. 2018 also represents the third wettest year on record in the state, with more than 58 inches of precipitation so far.
Robert Barcellos and his mother, Karen, now look out their front door to see a flooded yard with ducks swimming underneath their birdfeeder. In some places, water is over a foot deep. For smaller cars, a few hundred-foot section of Belfield Drive is impassable, with water between eight to 12 inches deep.
Authorities believe that a piece of property along Hartford Avenue, the old driving range from the former Golden Triangle golf center, is the culprit. A decades-old culvert through the property appears to have been compromised and water is not flowing the way it did in the past.
“We all said that back in 2010,” said Robert of his and his neighbor’s assessment of the problem. “We all said back then that it was the driving range that did this. Fast forward eight years later and now it’s found that’s the cause, and that’s aggravating. I guess we were all wrong eight years ago, now here it is 2018 and it’s happened again.”
Robert said that he is the primary caregiver and guardian for his mother, who has COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder) and was recently released from a two-week stay at the Morgan Nursing home in Johnston after spending five nights at Roger Williams Hospital with the flu.
Upon her release, she was required to have visits by both nurses and physical therapists who are unable to enter the residence because of the flooding problem. Robert said this current flooding problem hasn’t happened to this magnitude since 2010 but started roughly two weeks ago.
“This is the deepest it’s been since 2010,” said Robert. “I have a Jeep Grand Cherokee. It might make it out of the driveway today, but if we get more rain I’m not sure.”
He’s set up yardsticks throughout his property to gauge the water’s rise. His basement has several inches of water in it, and he’s started to take items like a generator and snowblower and raising them off the ground on pallets.
“Had the residents of the street been listened to in 2010, this could have been avoided and corrected in the meantime,” said Robert. “We’re dealing with it again, and what are we going to do?”
According to Polisena, steps are being taken to address the issue, which he expects will take some time to fix.
A meeting has been scheduled for Thursday morning with the Department of Transportation (DOT), the Department of Environmental Management (DEM), representatives from Senator Sheldon Whitehouse’s office, Senator Jack Reed’s office, Congressman Jim Langevin, and the North Rhode Island Conservation District. Polisena said he also wants to determine who is responsible for the situation.
“There’s an issue on the property on Hartford Avenue that borders Belfield Drive, that the culvert is crushed from dumping. So we feel it’s the property owner’s responsibility to straighten it out,” said Polisena. “We’re doing everything humanly possible to mitigate the problem. The problem is the sins of the past. People just dumped and dumped. There’s asphalt, there’s pieces of granite where the culvert is, which crushed the culvert.”
Members of the DOT, the town’s Department of Public Works, and fire and police officials have all visited and assessed the area, and according to the mayor that monitoring is ongoing.
“I can’t go in and fix it because first of all it’s not my property and second of all it has to have DEM approval,” said Polisena. “We need an engineering solution, we need a permanent solution.”
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, the water only went down a half an inch,” said Polisena.
In 2010, the town rented a heavy-duty 3,600 gallons-per-minute pump for $4,000. The state’s Emergency Management Agency provided just over half the amount of pipe needed to channel the water away from Belfield, and the town rented the rest to complete the 4,000 feet of metal pipe necessary to transport the water away.
Route 295, located nearby to the dead end circle of Belfield Drive, was used by residents at the end of the street to access their neighborhood in 2010. Cement plates were used to reinforce a passageway, allowing for traffic to drive into the road and access the homes that were isolated by floodwaters.
The path was also necessary for the pump and pipe to be brought into the area, as the town’s Department of Public Works began directing the water into a nearby stream that feeds Johnston Memorial Park. However, the Route 295 option does not appear to be a viable one now.
“It’s not safe. It’s a danger now, especially with the nearby on-ramp from Citizens Bank, plus there’s additional construction in the area from the bridge work,” said Polisena. “The traffic is more exacerbated now than it was eight years ago.”
According to the mayor, police and fire officials, the area is accessible if needed during an emergency situation. The town has several heavy-duty vehicles that can access the area and a boat as well if necessary. Police have now stationed a Humvee at the flooded area, and with a phone call to the police station residents behind the floodwaters can be transported back and forth as needed.
“They’ll carry people out with their arms if they have to when it comes to human life,” said the mayor about rescue personnel. “We’re doing everything we can right to find a long-term solution, but there’s nothing we can do right now. Mother Nature and human nature just doesn’t get along sometimes.”
All town officials, along with state counterparts, recognize the inconvenience the residents of Belfield are experiencing. Polisena said that chiefs from both the fire and police department make trips to monitor the situation multiple times a day.
“Is this an inconvenience? Absolutely,” said Polisena. “But those residents are well protected when it comes to public safety.”
The mayor believes, however, that the flooding is a state issue.
“When you talk about water and how it flows, and how you can’t put water on someone else’s property, what do we do? I don’t want the town to get fined because we’re pumping the water where it shouldn’t be,” he said. “It’s a real balancing act.”
Peter Alviti, the Director of the DOT, was aware of the situation and hopes after Thursday’s meeting a solution can be put to work.
“Initially, I think we need to take a good hard look at how the problem was created in the first place, look to implement a solution to that problem, and in the short term get some relief to the neighborhood in terms of temporary measures that we can take,” he said. “But, ultimately, I think we need to attack the underlying problem. I believe that there were drainage structures that were filled in and/or crushed, and we need to look at how that needs to be rebuilt.”
Alviti said that his department’s staff of engineers will help to understand and determine the problem and will assist with development plans. He, like the mayor, was reluctant to open the end of the road to Route 295 for access.
“In terms of doing that there are a number of Federal Highway Administration restrictions to doing that kind of activity, but for emergency purposes we may need cooperation with the town to allow at least emergency vehicles to get in and out of there,” said Alviti. “This is a longstanding issue, and I think that between the mayor and us we’re going to take the bull by the horns and get it solved.
From the damage caused in 2010 flood, Robert Barcellos received approximately $7,500 in aid, which they said wasn’t enough to cover their losses. He’s unsure what a total cost of the damage, if any, will be now, but he plans on staying on top of the issue.
“This is one malcontent that isn’t going to crawl back into a hole. I want this fixed,” said Robert.
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