Game of Floods - Foggy Hollow
Climate Activist and Student
Assignment: Read the role assignment and background reading below, then answer the questions at the end.
Role Assignment:
You are a student living in Foggy Hollow, along with a few roommates. You are studying environmental science, and you are passionate about climate change and the need to take action. You are excited about ‘green engineering’, marsh restoration, and other actions that towns can take to make themselves more resilient. You sometimes get impatient with your fellow citizens – you can see these problems and the needed solutions so clearly, why aren’t they all on board? You are one of many young people all over the world who are speaking out on this issue.
Background Reading:
How Otter Creek Swamp Complex Helped Protect Middlebury during
Tropical Storm Irene
Based on: http://nrcsolutions.org/otter-creek-floodplain-middlebury-vt/
In 2011, Tropical Storm Irene brought heavy rains that caused rivers and streams to overflow their banks in much of Vermont. It was the worst flood event in the recorded history of Vermont. The damage was severe, with more than 500 miles of roads, 1,000 culverts, 200 bridges, and 1,600 homes destroyed. Otter Creek, one of the largest rivers in Vermont, flooded the city of Rutland, where the peak discharge was 15,700 cubic feet per second; flood levels remained for four days, resulting in heavy damages.
Middlebury, located just 30 miles downstream from Rutland, had a peak discharge of only 6,180 cubic feet per second. Why didn’t Middlebury flood? It was protected by Otter Creek Swamp, a vast network of floodplains and wetlands located along the river between the two towns.
Flood damage in Rutland
History
Otter Creek is one of the largest rivers in Vermont, stretching for 112 miles. It overruns its bank on a yearly basis, mostly from spring rains and snow melt. As a result, many communities built levees along Otter Creek to protect themselves from the flooding. These levees keep the water in the creek and protect residential areas and farmland.
However, the stretch of Otter Creek between Rutland and Middlebury contains almost 9000 acres of natural areas including forested floodplains, wetlands, and swamps. All of these areas retain excess water that overflows from Otter Creek. Vermont has lost most of its naturally occurring wetlands, but the Otter Creek floodplains were protected by a combination of conservation easements and also a restoration effort that removed some of the levees so that floodwaters could spread out into the floodplain.
Benefits
During Tropical Storm Irene, the water flooded Rutland because it had nowhere else to go. However, once it got past Rutland, it spread out into the wetlands in the floodplain, and so by the time it reached Middlebury the water levels were much lower.
A study conducted by Keri Watson from the Gund Institute and University of Vermont found that during Tropical Storm Irene alone, the floodplains saved Middlebury $1.8 million. Watson also found that even in years without a huge storm, the floodplains still saved Middlebury between $126,000 and $450,000 per year, by reducing the amount of spring flooding. These numbers only consider predicted damage to property and businesses - the study did not consider damage to roadways, reduced access to emergency services, lost wages when people can’t get to work, or loss of business during floods. It is safe to say the true savings for Middlebury from the floodplains are even higher than predicted by the study.
Middlebury’s neighbors paid attention! In Forestdale and Mt. Holly, levees were washed out during Tropical Storm Irene. Those communities saw what happened in Middlebury, and decided not to rebuild the levees. Instead, they invested in connecting their rivers to their natural floodplains to increase the natural flood storage capacity.
Flood plain during dry.
Flood plain with flooded conditions.
Questions:
1. Middlebury and Rutland are located on the same river. Why did Middlebury experience less flooding than Rutland during Tropical Storm Irene?
2. How do floodplains reduce flooding downstream?
3. Why did the communities of Forestdale and Mt. Holly decide not to rebuild their levees?
4. Answer this question in character as a Foggy Hollow resident and climate activist (see the role description at the top). Would you support building a levee along Foggy Hollow Creek to protect Foggy Hollow residents from flooding? Why or why not?
Once you have answered the above questions, move on to Part 2 here.
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