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North County homes and roads damaged by floods from Irene in the Berkshires

A 400 foot section of Route 8 North in the Berkshires town of Clarksburg that was washed away by the waters of the Hoosic River in Hurricane Irene on August 28.
Patrick Donges/WAMC
A 400 foot section of Route 8 North in the Berkshires town of Clarksburg that was washed away by the waters of the Hoosic River in Hurricane Irene on August 28.

By Patrick Donges

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wamc/local-wamc-983991.mp3

Adams, MA – Simply travelling north from Pittsfield was a challenge in the early morning hours Monday as both Merrill Road and Dalton Avenue, two main connectors to Route 8 North, had been closed Sunday due to flooding.

By about 9 AM the cones blocking Dalton Avenue had been moved to allow cars to pass through the few inches of standing water that remained.

Evidence of the storm's passage was sparse through the towns of Lanesboro and Cheshire with some moderate damage visible from the road to trees and homes.

However, further up Route 8 in the town of Adams, where the road turns into Columbia Street, residents stood on the sidewalk in front of their homes as fire officials pumped gallons of water up from their basements into a nearby sewer grate at around 10 a.m.

The homes are located between the Hoosic River, to the right of Route 8, and a brook which runs behind and empties into the river. Genevieve Ryan, who has lived on the block for 47 years, said while the brook has risen during past storms and brought some water into her backyard and the road behind the homes

"I've never in my life. We've had pouring rain before, we've had wind before; we were never affected. Now our basements are ruined. Everything we had in the basement has to be thrown away."

A few houses down, resident Andrea Peters pointed to the mark on her basement steps where the water had risen to Sunday, mere feet below where the stairs ended and her living room carpet began.

"It was all up to here. I don't know if you can get down here "

A few more steps down and a jumble of boxes, some still with tops some without, and some building materials covered in mud could be seen strewn about, making going any further impossible.

"It's nothing but mud. I don't even think it'd be safe right now to really stand on it; I'm probably going to sink in about six inches."

According to Adams' Alert Hose Company No. 1 volunteer fire department chief Paul Goyette, fire officials ceased operations at the houses at 1 p.m., saying they had done all they could with the company's equipment.

Ryan said she believed the flooding could've been prevented had town officials cleaned a drainage pipe she said would've allowed the brook to drain under the road and into the river.

Adams Town Administrator Jonathan Butler said he was unsure what exactly caused the flooding at the Columbia Street row houses, saying every brook, stream, and tributary in the town was overflowing Sunday, and adding that there were still neighborhoods in the town cut off from access to main roads Monday afternoon.

Further up the road in North Adams, Mayor Richard Alcombright inspected the Historic Valley Campground at Windsor Lake. The city evacuated 30 residents to an emergency shelter due to flooding; here's Alcombright

"We're we unscathed? No. could it have been much worse? Yes."

"I think right now we're dealing with road issues. We have a lot of washouts. Most are passable now; we've got maybe two or three very minor streets that are impassable. So we'll be working on those, but it's going to be three or four weeks I would think until we've really got our roads back to where we're feeling good again."

Alcombright said he watched the Hoosic River moving at what he estimated was between 50 and 60 miles-per-hour Sunday along Route 8, calling the sight, "scary."

Just past the North Adams city line in the town of Clarksburg the power of the river became apparent; a 400 foot section of the southbound lane of the road had been completely eroded by Sunday's rising waters, leaving the guardrail hanging feet above the water.

11-year-old Clarksburg resident Jonah Miles walked along the sidewalk across from the washout with members of his family as they snapped photos of the damage. When asked whether he thought media outlets over-hyped Irene in the days preceding the storm, he said

"No, I don't. I've never seen anything like this before, with my own eyes."

North of North Adams, officials in Bennington, Vermont toured damage Monday afternoon caused by extensive flooding with Governor Peter Shumlin.

While officials with the Bennington Police Department couldn't be reached for comment, the Bennington Banner reported Monday that it will take an estimated $2 million to repair the town's flood wall. President Obama has signed an emergency declaration for the entire state of Vermont.