Winchester Residents Concerned About Flood Plan

Joe Lucherini is uninsurable.

He estimates that his home has had over $20,000 in flood damage over the last six years from the , while the value of his house continues to decrease.

Lucherini doesn’t expect his problem to go away anytime soon. According to the Brookside resident, while the town it could take Winchester almost 20 years to finish the project. The Brookside area, which is located upstream, is last on the town’s list of areas to fix.

“Twenty years down the road is too late,” Lucherini said. “We need to address this immediately. There are life-threatening conditions that exist here and now. God forbid there’s a fatality. That’s not going to be on my chest.”

But Selectman Jim Johnson said that the town continues to focus on alleviating flooding in town.

“Flood mitigation has been the board’s No. 1 priority,” Johnson said. “We have a plan in place. It’s been a long process, but this is the best way to alleviate the flooding in Winchester.”

According to Lucherini, he wants the board to change the sequence of events of the flood program. Currently, the town is working on along the Mystic Valley Parkway, then they’ll move on to the Converse Bridge and the high school, before eventually getting to the Brookside area.

Lucherini has said that the town can alleviate the flooding issue upstream by opening the culverts by . There are three culverts located by the school, but currently only one is open. Lucherini said that because only one is open, the Brookside area gets flooded because the water backs up. But if all the culverts were open the water would be able to flow downstream, alleviating the flooding upstream.

However, according to Johnson, if the town went out of sequence and opened the Muraco culverts before completing the other aspects of the project, it will set the flood mitigation project even further behind schedule. 

Opening the culverts ahead of schedule would create more flooding downstream and in the downtown area. The water upstream would be moved further down the river and flood the town center area, as that location wouldn’t be able to handle the increased water.

“That’s not possible without causing additional flooding downstream,” Johnson said of changing the sequence of the project. “They’re last on the list and they’re upset and rightfully so. But we’ve spoken with our consultants and they said if we go out of sequence it’s going to be more flooding downtown. Everyone is going to be worse downstream."

Levees

Another issues raised from the Brookside community is a man-made levee, built next to Parkview Electronics on Lowell Street.

According to resident, Eric Reed, the levee increases the water level in the Brookside area by at least three feet.

However, Jack Sanantonio of the engineering firm, AECOM, said that the levee increases the water level by approximately 10 inches.

To Lucherini, any increase is too much.

“I don’t care if it’s three feet or three inches, that levee increases the water level and that’s unacceptable,” Lucherini said.

According to Johnson, the town is currently in litigation with Parkview over the levee and have been for the last few years.

“We’ve been dealing with that for several years,” Johnson said. “We’re making progress, but just not as fast as I’d like.”

Lucherini and Reed have filed an appeal with FEMA to try and get the levee removed.

In the end, the board unanimously voted continue with the original plan developed by their consultants.

“We read everything you submitted to us,” said Selectman Roger Berman to Reed, who also inquired about being a consultant on the flood mitigation project. “I’m not an engineer and that’s why we hired outside counsel. At some point we’re going to need to rely on those that advise us on these matters.

“This has been the priority of the board since the first 100-year flood and will continue to be until it’s resolved.”