Beaver dam intact, undersized culvert washed out. East Street in Belchertown | Six days after the road collapse at East Street in Belchertown, nature’s engineers are shoring up their structures (top left) behind the pile of debris that was carried up and over their dam (still intact) during intense rains. Debris clogged the 3-foot undersized culvert at the road, raising water levels to ~2 feet above the road (and top of the beaver dam), ultimately eroding the roadbed, causing catastrophic failure, and significant downstream flooding and damage to homes. This crossing has been replaced with a 9-foot structure. 2021-07-25 00:00:00
Date: Jul 25, 2021
Latitude: 42°14'48.07" N
Longitude: 72°20'14.29" W
Location: East Street in Belchertown
Watershed: Swift River
Six days after the road collapse at East Street in Belchertown, nature’s engineers are shoring up their structures (top left) behind the pile of debris that was carried up and over their dam (still intact) during intense rains. Debris clogged the 3-foot undersized culvert at the road, raising water levels to ~2 feet above the road (and top of the beaver dam), ultimately eroding the roadbed, causing catastrophic failure, and significant downstream flooding and damage to homes. This crossing has been replaced with a 9-foot structure.