Army Corps of Engineers plan for Charles River flood control works again

Yesterday afternoon, just before the deluge that gave us That Rainbow, the Long Ditch that connects two loops of the Charles at the Dedham/Needham line (dug by the busy-beaver colonial settlers who also gave us the Mother Brook), had overflowed its banks and was flooding the nearby marshes of Cutler Park. As it was designed to do.

In the 1970s, the US Army Corps of Engineers considered building a series of dikes to prevent flooding along the upper Charles River, but instead decided to buy land along the river and leave it alone, so it could act like a sponge and sop up water after heavy rains or snow melt, after which it would more slowly release the water back into the river.

The Corps has since bought more than 8,000 acres of land between roughly I-495 and Watertown to create the Charles River Natural Valley Storage Area (after Watertown, levels in the Charles are controlled by the giant pumps at the Charles River Dam).

Still, the Charles was higher than usual yesterday. In the photo below, the tree and signpost on the right at the Millennium Park kayak launch are normally on dry land (as are the steps you can't see that lead down to the water):

Mary Ellen reports the river had yet to recede at that point this morning, and reported that the woody area along path through the woods near the kayak launch was also unusually full of water:

A bit further downstream, Sawmill Brook, which winds along the park and empties into the Charles, had also overflowed its banks - into the marshes set aside by the Corps.

Earlier:
The Charles at more normal levels in July (with a photo of the drought conditions the year before).