Selectmen will discuss the progress of road and culvert repairs at their meeting Tuesday at 7 p.m. at 29 Thompson St. Watch video
This is an updated version of a story posted at 8:52 this morning.
Workers from Palmer Paving repair flood damage to Beebe Road in Monson after weekend storms pounded the area.MONSON - Work continued Monday to repair close to a dozen roads that were damaged or washed out by Sunday's torrential rains here.
"The state of emergency is still on," Highway Surveyor John Morrell said.
Morrell said all roads are passable. Some may have one lane open, however.
Affected roads are Beebe, Fenton, Chestnut, T-Peck, Wood Hill, Reimers, Aldrich and High, as well as Harrison Avenue and Homer Drive.
Beebe and T-Peck roads, along with Chestnut Street, had the worst damage - pavement was washed away and sink holes developed.
Beebe Road lost 300 feet of roadway. The rain carved out a hole 6 to 8 feet deep in the road. A nearby brook overflowed from the rain, and water flowing from Crest Road contributed to the washouts, Morrell said.
He said the culverts could not handle so much water at once. Rains overflowed the brook and washed out a different section of Beebe Road back in 1989, he said.
T-Peck Road and Chestnut Street also lost large sections of pavement.
“They did a remarkable job getting those roads open,” Town Administrator Gretchen E. Neggers said.
Selectmen will discuss the progress of road and culvert repairs at their meeting Tuesday at 7 p.m. at 29 Thompson St.
Morrell said he became concerned about the storm around 8:30 a.m. on Sunday.
"I said, 'This can't continue on much longer,'" Morrell recalled. "It was an intense storm and it didn't let up. We got 5.8 inches of rain in three hours."
Pounding rain, combined with Monson's hilly terrain and large number of streams, contributed to the road problems.
Monson is no stranger to wild weather. Last year, it was pummeled by a tornado in June and snowstorm in October. In 2005, flooding also washed out roads.
Crews will continue to work on the roads on Tuesday. He said repaving should be completed by the end of the week.
Morrell is estimating that the road repairs will cost up to $150,000, but that is an early estimate and he will have a better number for Tuesday's meeting.
Though the tornado area was largely spared, some homeowners experienced flooded basements. Karen King, founder of the street angels volunteer team, said water flowed straight down the tornado path from Ely Road, and left one Washington Street resident with 2 feet of mud in his basement.
The rainstorm came just two days after Monson had another tornado scare.
"We got lucky there," Morrell said.
State Rep. Brian M. Ashe, D-Longmeadow, visited Monson on Monday to see the rainstorm damage firsthand. Ashe said he was amazed that the roads are passable, and credited Morrell's crews for getting them back in use so quickly. All roads were open by Sunday night.
Ashe said he was glad that no one was hurt, and no homes or businesses were damaged. Ashe said he plans to see if he can find any extra funding for Monson to help deal with the unexpected $150,000 bill from the storm.
"Monson is really a resilient community. That being said, it doesn't have an endless pot of money," Ashe said. "I will do everything possible to get them money as quickly as possible."
"It's great to see how quickly they got things up and running. Again, they made the best out of a horrible situation," Ashe said.
Morrell said residents should report road damage and washouts to the Highway Department at (413) 267-4135. “If there is no cone or barrel by that location we probably don’t know about it,” he said. “Little things keep popping up but even they can be really dangerous hazards.”
Morrell said Beebe Road will probably be closed for several hours on Wednesday while workers apply a base course of asphalt.
Other damages include several headwalls that collapsed near culverts.
“We have to restore those headwalls before we get any more water,” Morrell said.
Staff writer George Graham contributed to this report.