Possible solutions to Yantic River flooding discussed during Norwich open house

Any time heavy rain is on the way, people in Norwich keep a close eye on the Yantic River. After years of devastating floods, business and homeowners are looking for solutions to keep the water out.

“We flood many, many times. Back from the '70s all the way through,” Lori Danis, a commercial building owner, said.

She’s no stranger to dealing with the Yantic River with her commercial building located right by the riverbank.

“The tenants of course struggle every time there’s a flood. They shut down and they have to clean up the mess,” she said.

That’s what happened in January of last year after a storm caused a 50-year-flood in Norwich.

It’s a reality Danis and other business and homeowners have to deal with from time to time. That’s why some of them decided to listen to some possible solutions.

“Having an event like this allows us to bring some of the initial research into potential flood adaptation and flood mitigation solutions,” Helen Zincavage, director of regional planning for the Southeastern Connecticut Council of Government, said.

SECOG held an open house Wednesday to talk about them and see what people wanted. Solutions included everything from building temporary barriers to dredging the river or removing the Upper Falls Dam.

“That actually would really lower flood elevation, all the way up to Backus [Hospital]. You could see as much as half a foot to a foot lower,” Zincavage said.

The agency says there’s no easy fix to in addressing future flooding.

“There is no one silver bullet that’s going to address the risk for the entire corridor. It’s going to be a lot of cumulative actions,” she said.

Danis says she’s open to the idea of dredging the river to lower water levels.

“They dredged it years ago and it did help for a while,” she said.

The river flows through other towns beyond Norwich and that’s why Mayor Peter Nystrom is meeting with those leaders within the month to talk about flooding solutions.