Flood mitigation project underway in Quincy
QUINCY - A new construction project is underway in Quincy, preparing the city for impacts from climate change and helping to prevent flooding from extreme rain events.
"One of the first major incidents I had as mayor was in 2010 when this part of the city went underwater. We had 10 inches of rain in around a 24-hour period and there was just nowhere for the water to go," Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch said.
"The water came up 50 yards from the swamp area," said Quincy resident Michael Carloni. "I'm glad to see that they are doing something with it."
Homeowners in West Quincy know how quickly water can flood along the Furnace Brook and are happy to see construction underway.
"The project here is allowing for more volume when we have flooding events as well as cleaning out all the invasive species and replanting new wetland type species," Mayor Koch explains.
The nearly million-dollar project is preparing the city for extreme rain events which are more likely to occur with climate change.
"With climate change, a city like Quincy feels the effects... It seems like every 10 to 20 years, we have a major event and it's the same streets that get affected because of the low point. It's like a bowl," Mayor Koch tells WBZ.
Flynn Enterprise, Inc. is a service-disabled veteran-owned business and is working to remove the current Quincy granite that lines the brook and regrade the banks from Quarry Street to Father McMahon Way, an area parallel to the Furnace Brook Parkway.
"We're increasing the flood plain, so right now as you can see behind me the brook is straight, the brook is going to meander from left to right. It's going to have natural stone in it and what the meandering does it allows for a lot more capacity, so it will be able to hold more water in rain events," Shawn Flynn, owner of Flynn Enterprises, Inc. tells WBZ.
This flood mitigation project is going to update a system that's over 100 years old. You can already see a drastic change in landscape and this design is also going to make it a beautiful place to visit.
"There are a ton of plantings go in afterwards, it's going to look very nice when it's finished," Flynn said. "A lot of wetland plantings, wetland trees."
A step to a more sustainable, climate ready future.
"At the end of the day, this will be good for the environment, good for the neighborhood not far from here we were literally taking people out on boats from their homes in that event, March of 2010... it will look much nicer, it will feel prettier, you'll be able to walk through here, you weren't able to walk through here before," Mayor Koch says.
Some plants and trees were cut down for this project, but there will be about 350 new ones going in. This project is expected to wrap up in the summer.