Flooding headaches in Amherst: Homeowners on one street struggle to reach their front doors

By SCOTT MERZBACH

Staff Writer

Published: 04-05-2017 1:24 PM

AMHERST — Back from the supermarket with four bags of groceries, Joyce Silverstone was confronted by a pond in the middle of her street, and a dilemma: should she drive through the deep water to get home, or would it be wise to park the vehicle on pavement and make multiple trips, on foot, to her 35 Pomeroy Court residence?

In choosing to traverse the small body of water with her vehicle, unlike several neighbors who left their cars near the Pomeroy Lane entrance to the cul-de-sac, Silverstone hit a pothole beneath the standing water, explaining to the Select Board Monday night that this damaged the heat shield on her vehicle’s engine and required repairs the next day.

On Sunday night, Nancy Gonter Weld took the opposite approach, leaving her vehicle a distance from her 40 Pomeroy Court home and then wading through the muck alongside the road to get her computer and backpack so she’d be ready to head to work in the Easthampton public schools the next day.

“We just want to be able to drive to our own homes, not park a football field away and walk through a swamp to get home,” Weld said in an email, explaining that she spent part of her Sunday afternoon trimming brush from the side of the road so she and others wouldn’t get snared by prickers as they skirted the pond.

The water issues are a continuing frustration for the nine residents whose homes are on Pomeroy Court, a dead-end street off Pomeroy Lane that has long been susceptible to flooding and extended periods of standing water.

“We’ve lived here over 30 years, and it’s been an issue, the road’s a mess and it’s just hard to go through,” said Beverley Bhowmik of 17 Pomeroy Court, adding that it’s been a nuisance to get the mail or have trash picked up.

Weld said it’s possible that the water table has risen and when snow melts and rains come, the road will continue to get washed out.

Almost annually, either the town has trapped beavers and removed beaver dams, or the power company Eversource has monitored the nearby land for beaver activity, said Department of Public Works Superintendent Guilford Mooring.

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“The issue is to try to make sure the beavers are managed,” Mooring said.

Town officials are well aware of the problems on Pomeroy Court.

“During wet weather it floods,” said Town Manager Paul Bockelman. “It’s a super inconvenience for people who live there, and clearly it’s a problem.”

On Monday, Bockelman visited the street with Jason Skeels, the town engineer, to examine the surroundings, and on Tuesday Bockelman met with Mooring. Suggestions for repairs have ranged from raising the pavement on the road to improving drainage.

“We’re looking at actual solutions we can implement as soon as possible,” Bockelman said.

But he cautions that residents will have to be patient, as the town will need to find the money for any work and get approvals from the Conservation Commission because of the proximity to wetlands.

“There’s no easy solution. If there was it would be done by now,” Bockelman said.

The issue is also complicated by residents only having one access point to their homes, making repairs more urgent.

Bockelman said the good thing is that the fire department’s engines and ambulances have high enough clearance to make it through the current water levels without causing any damage.

For now, Weld said residents will continue to strategize about whether it is better to park on one side of the pond and walk, or drive through the water and risk damage. And, she added, keeping rain boots in their cars and at their homes will remain a necessity.

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