I have seen this before, and it was not pretty.
As you saw in my other post, I was checking out a few things at Crooked Spring. Leaves are starting to fall and the weeds are dying back, so I can see a lot more. What I saw is something I have seen over the years, and it has not ended well.
Trees are dying all over town. Ash, cedar, and others are dropping branches, lots of them. I worry about how many will be gone in another 10 years. Naturally, those branches end up in the water, get stuck on the dam, or drop over to its base. Some wash downstream toward the culvert under the road. That culvert is old and undersized.
There is a lot of woody debris scattered below the dam and down the stream. Several trees have also fallen into the pond.
Is this a problem? It actually is, because I have seen this time after time. The wood wedges in the culvert, and more and more build up until the flow under the road is a trickle. Then the water rises until it starts crossing the road, and DPW races down to address the issue.
The scout bridge is anchored down, but it lifts and settles back down as the water rises and falls. Each fall, we get a wet stretch, and Crooked Spring turns into a river.
So what did we do in the past? We always had a crew put on boots and haul the wood out, placing it above the waterline. This really is an annual task. It was not done last year or this year, and it should be done soon.
I would hate to be posting photos of the flooded road again or of DPW having to pull out the Scout bridge to remove a blockage.
Again, this is a movie I have seen over and over, and I still hate the ending.