Opinion: Every floodwall we build to protect someone shuts off a flood plain and puts others danger

Dear Editor,

When we were awakened by dogs barking on Tuesday morning of last week, it was still dark. The rain had nearly stopped. My wife got out of bed and looked out behind our house and in a frightened voice called out to me, “Doug, we’ve got water.” 

I scrambled out of bed and made my way to the utility room, and looked out on dirty brown water half way up the rear tires of our van parked in the driveway. By the time I found an old pair of sneakers, my wife had pulled our vehicle up near the street and driven our mower out of our flooded garage. I joined her in the murky water and we hurried to move what we could to relative safety. All the while we were worried about the water inching up toward the top step leading to the lowest level of our home.

Our hearts were in our throats as we relived the horror we experienced just over seven years ago, when Tropical Storm Lee’s massive rainfall devastated the entire Susquehanna River Watershed. Only those directly affected can appreciate the gut wrenching fear that consumes you when confronted with predictions of flash flooding and heavy rain sufficient to send water into populated areas. They know the helpless feeling that comes with the knowledge that no matter how hard you work or how much help you have, you can’t win against that dirty water. 

When the water does go down, there’s the mud that coats the grass and flowers, driveway, sidewalk, the carpet, walls and everything in between. Remember to empty the refrigerator and the freezer first thing. Throw everything out. Get used to that. 

You get a sick feeling inside when your possessions are piled on the street and overflow into your driveway, totally exposed to the world. It’s a sodden, muddy mess of memories and every day living. The reality of loss is overwhelming. It literally takes our breath away, draining you of energy and replacing it with a terrible tiredness followed by discouragement and depression. It ages you. It really does.

Practically speaking, we lost everything on the first floor of the house, the garage and anything on the ground outside that wasn’t “nailed down.” (We moved everything out of the basement years ago.) 

Too many times others have experienced the same feelings. The multitudes of volunteers from every corner of the country who unselfishly help rebuild and restore are “heaven sent,” as are neighbors, and family members who “pitch in” to help individuals and families, however they can. 

This is a truly amazing experience and so different from what people are normally accustomed to. It is the only good thing that comes out of tragedy like this. It seems to bring out the best in people. (Not all people, maybe, but a lot more than you might think.)

Presently, the accepted way for dealing with floods seems to be doing everything we can to get the water from the hills to the river as quickly as possible. We need to re-think this. It’s not working too well for many of us. It might be much better to try and “slow down” the run off so it takes longer to get there and doesn’t arrive all at once, so to speak. 

There probably are some ideas about how this can be done. The local office of the Tioga County Soil and Water District should be a great place to find out what they are and what’s involved. If storms become more extreme we may have no choice or we may lose everything. If we don’t think “outside the box” we will be in trouble, because “our solution” has been a “major player” in our problem. Rivers were never intended not to overflow. That’s why there are “flood plains” and “wet lands,” they’re where the excess water is supposed to go to spread out harmlessly until the flow slows and retreats back to normal. 

Unfortunately, that is not often the case anymore. I have no idea why New York State allows flood plains to be raised and wet lands to be filled. Both practices contribute to our flooding problems because, of the “overflow” can’t go where it is supposed to, it will go where it can. By trying to get storm water or ice melt from the hills to the river valley as quickly as we can, we are committing an act of self-destruction. 

Think about it for a minute. Every floodwall we build to protect someone most likely shuts off a flood plain and puts others in harm’s way. Think of areas where wetlands and low areas (worthless land) have been filled (made valuable) and developed commercially. Those are areas where the overflow was meant to go.

Sincerely,

Doug Graves

Tioga Center, N.Y.