Did You Know...

. . . that flood control dams in Connecticut were successful in protecting lives and property in the wake of April's "Nor'easter" storm? As the rain fell and the rivers rose in Connecticut and throughout New England, meteorologists and engineers at the Corps of Engineers Reservoir Control Center in Concord, Massachusetts, managed the reservoirs to minimize and prevent flooding.

Water was held back in Vermont and New Hampshire to reduce the storm's impact downstream, and water already in Connecticut was held in reservoirs at various locations for the same reason.

Rainfall amounts ranging from 3 to 6 inches or more throughout the southern New England watershed on April 15 and 16 sent rivers surging.

As city and state officials watched rivers rise, computers collected data from nearly 100 river monitoring stations throughout Connecticut. The information was relayed by satellite to the control center.

"We get real-time data," Corps spokesman Tim Dugan said. "We look at the entire system. We monitor day-to-day and hour-to-hour impacts."

Dugan said most of the flood control dams in Connecticut were built on smaller rivers and streams to control the release of water into the main rivers, including the Connecticut River, the Farmington River and the Housatonic River.

Efforts to manage the water began more than a week in advance, Dugan said, with decisions to release extra water and draw down local reservoirs based on anticipated rainfall combined with melting snow from the north.

Source: Republican-American, Waterbury, Connecticut, April 17, 2007.

(reprinted from the USSD Newsletter, March 2007, page 3)