| Hurricane Edna - September 1954 |
|
Hurricane Edna dropped approximately six and one half
inches of rain in five days. It is quite evident that localized
flooding occurred at many bridge restrictions along Mill Brook.
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| Hurricane Diane - August 1955 |
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The flooding of Mill Brook is only documented in the local
newspapers. After Hurricane Connie had saturated the soil,
Hurricane Diane brought a rainfall of 12.47 inches over three
days. The damage caused by Hurricane Diane probably exceed any
other disaster the town had ever experienced. Damages were
estimated at $250,000 in 1955 dollars.
From the Arlington Advocate: "For a time, a major break
was feared at the Arlington Reservoir. Sandbags by the thousands
saved the day."
The CE Maguire report also claims: "One fortunate point to
note for this flood is that after Hurricane Edna occurred a year
earlier, Arlington had the foresight to build up the crest of the
spillway at Arlington reservoir. Stoplog slots were added which
provided means to add stoplogs to an additional 26 inches. In
addition, the Arlington reservoir had been at a low level previously,
due to the drought which New England was experiencing. These two
facts helped Arlington Reservoir to store more water and protect the
areas downstream."
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| Flood of March 1968 |
|
Over five inches of rain fell during a three day
period. The Advocate reported that "Mill Brook came to within
inches of overflowing its banks." Approximately 150 cellars
had to be pumped by the Fire Department. This flood was by no
means serious, although great damage occurred on many surrounding
watersheds.
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| Flood of December 1969 |
|
Up to ten inches of snow fell on Christmas night followed
by heavy rain for two days, melting the snowfall. The town quite
effectively regulated the gate at Arlington Reservoir by holding all
flow into Arlington reservoir until two days after the storm
began. At that time the gates were lowered since the flow in Mill
Brook had subsided. Mill Brook suffered little flooding but
approximately 150 homes had to have their cellars pumped.
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| This material is extracted from section I.
E. History of Floods from the CE Maguire Mill Brook Study of
1974. Information about more recent storms could be found in
newspaper archives. |
| |
| For rough comparison purposes a 100-year flood
is 6.7", a 500-year flood is 8.2" and a 1/2 PMF event is
18.06" |