HOULTON, Maine — While the flooding concerns for southern Aroostook County were not as great as the northern part of the state, the heavy spring rain and snow melt have caused some problems for people as basements flooded and roads were covered with water.
The Catalina Road in Hodgdon and Route 2 (Smyrna Road) in Houlton, near the Porter Settlement Road were both closed for a short period of time April 16. The following day, both roads were clear of any water and re-opened.
Houlton resident Alison Gooding, who resides near the Pearce Brook on Green Street, has lived with flooding concerns her entire life as her family home has flooded whenever the water levels rise.
“I am always super sensitive to the changing seasons and keep an eye on the brook at all times,” Gooding said.
Gooding added she is also concerned with the status of the Green Street bridge, also known as bridge 5019 which was built back in the late 1890s. The pillars of the bridge are slowly starting to erode, with exposed rebar near the water line.
Leigh Stillwell, director of public works for the town of Houlton, is well versed in the problems of Pearce Brook and particularly the Green Street Bridge.
“The problems start way upstream,” said Stillwell. “A few years back, MDOT put a new bridge in on Brook Street and put a new one on Columbia and another on Court Street. Those bridges were wider, which meant more volume (of water) downstream.”
Stillwell said the Calais Road bridge was also rebuilt, with smooth culverts across the road that also increased the water flow.
“The state actually compounded the problem to the point where we had to put in two new culverts on Chandler Street,” he said. “I’m actually surprised the problem isn’t worse.”
All that extra water flows quickly down Pearce Brook until it reaches the Green Street bridge, where it bottlenecks and expands. Stillwell said although this spring featured high water in the stream, it has been much worse in previous years.
“I’ve seen water flowing over the bridge deck and was up two panels (about two feet) on Gooding’s garage,” he said.
Gooding can confirm the water has flowed over the bridge several times over the years. Her family has owned the home, near the riverbank since the fall of 1958. Growing up, she can still recall the one spring where the river flooded her home so badly that they had to be evacuated in February 1970. It was the first of many evacuations over the past few decades.
“Before the brook flooded all around the house, my father had the furnace taken out and dragged upstairs,” she said. “I remember at age 11, lying on the floor of the middle room and wiggling my fingers in the slots of the forced air register to feel the water in the cellar.”
The rumor had it that the family was evacuated by canoe, but Gooding said she was carried up the hill to the house next door.
The flooding incidents became more common starting in 2005 and have progressively gotten worse. To date, she has vacated her home at least seven times.
Gooding said she has been told by the state that the Green Street bridge is on the list of bridges to be torn down, but may not be on the list to be rebuilt. Stillwell said he has not seen any information on the bridge from MDOT.
If the state were to tear the bridge down and not replace it, Green Street would essentially become a dead end street on both sides of the brook, with large cement pavers keeping vehicles from going off the road into the water. Stillwell said that he has not seen any list.
“I can’t imagine for the traffic volume (on Green Street), that they would take it (the bridge) out,” he said. “That is a through way from Bangor Street to Court Street.”
Despite all the flooding troubles and precautionary evacuations, Gooding said she has no plans to leave her family home.
“Our family has enjoyed living in the peaceful setting of Pearce Brook for 54 years,” she said. “We have enjoyed watching highly-varied wildlife and the beauty of the changing seasons. Our pleasure, however, has been tempered in recent years with the anxiety of always having to watch the weather forecasts, assess the water levels, listen for the sump pumps, worry about the electrical equipment and moving the cars.”
