Northfield VT, July 2023. Dog River floods Dog River Park and the Water St. neighborhood. Photo by Chris Alger and Friends of the Winooski
After the Flood Stories of Resilience: Northfield, Vermont
By Sarah Noyes
December 05, 2023
Slow moving storms brought catastrophic flooding to our region in July. Record-breaking rain fell on saturated soils, overwhelming waterways and resulting in a federal disaster declaration. The damage to our communities and infrastructure? Extensive.
Damage from the July 2023 floods rival that experienced just 12 years earlier during Tropical Storm Irene. Irene was a wake-up call that brought flood preparedness center stage. What was learned from Irene, and how has that learning been applied? Did post-Irene improvements reduce July 2023 flood damages? What are we learning as we recover from this summer’s flooding?
In this newsletter series, we will share stories of post-flood learning and resilience. In doing so we aim to inspire hope and action for a flood-resilient future.
Northfield, VT – Dog River Park
Our first case study takes us to Northfield, Vermont. Northfield is a small town in Washington County situated on the Dog River. In 2011, during Tropical Storm Irene, the area received more than 7 inches of rain and the Dog River flooded. The flooding river spilled with violent force throughout Northfield, putting neighborhoods, businesses, and roads underwater. More than 80 homes were damaged. Most of this damage was concentrated in Northfield’s Water Street neighborhood, located next to the Dog River.
With leadership from Michele Braun, who was Northfield’s Hazard Mitigation Planner at the time, and funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Vermont Emergency Management (VEM), the town of Northfield bought out 18 damaged homes in the river’s floodplain. A floodplain is an area of land next to a river, where water is expected to flow during a flood. It is a dangerous place to develop. The goal of these property buyouts was to protect families from future flood damage by helping them move out of a hazardous flood-prone area.
When floodplains can function properly, they have a great capacity for flood storage. Functioning floodplains store and slow excess water that may otherwise end up damaging surrounding communities. Braun coordinated a design plan for the buyout properties that maximizes flood storage potential and creates a dynamic community space for Northfield residents.
After years of collaborative work between The Town of Northfield, Friends of the Winooski, Two Rivers Ottauquechee Regional Planning Commission, water resource engineers at Milone & MacBroom (now SLR), US Fish and Wildlife, the Mad/Dog Chapter of Trout Unlimited, the Winooski Natural Resources Conservation District, Norwich University, the Northfield Conservation Commission, and residents of the Water Street neighborhood – Dog River Park was finalized in 2018.
A pollinator garden, walking paths, river access points, and a native riparian buffer make Dog River Park a wonderful place to connect with the community and with nature. It balances the functionality of a park with the functionality of a floodplain – and it is designed to hold enough flood water to decrease potential flood levels throughout the nearby Water Street neighborhood.
This past July, Dog River Park’s design was put to the test. The Dog River watershed received more than 5 inches of rain in the July 2023 storms – not as much as it did during Tropical Storm Irene – but the Dog River flooded again. Water spread over Dog River Park and flooded basements in the Water Street neighborhood. Because floodwaters were able to fill the restored floodplain in Dog River Park, the severity of the flooding in the Water Street neighborhood was reduced by about six inches. This was confirmed by river engineers Jessica Louisos and Roy Schiff, who were involved in the park’s design, based on a review of hydraulic modeling of similar-sized floods. Six inches may seem minor, but it could determine whether flood waters reach the first floor of a home – drastically impacting the costs of damages for homeowners.
The park performed as it was designed to.
“It held water for 3 days after the flood,” says Braun. “Dogwoods, willows and alders in the park’s riparian buffer caught a ton of debris, lightening the impact on downstream communities.”
Lisa Kolb, a resident of the Water Street neighborhood is grateful for the park’s flood storage, and for its value as a community space. She enjoys connecting with neighbors and walking her dog at Dog River Park three times a day.
“We will have flooding,” Kolb explains, “but we can work to mitigate the impacts in ways that improve the community too.”
Dog River Park is an inspiring model of floodplain management that reduces flood impacts and provides an amenity for the community. Implementing projects like Dog River Park in more communities will help keep homes and people safer from flood damage.
