AFTERMATH OF HURRICANE IRENE August 28, 2011

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Hurricane Irene was well covered in the news, so we had enough time to prepare.  This was a large storm, technically a tropical storm by the time it arrived here, and we figured on a lot of heavy rain and downed trees. There certainly was flooding at the Calvert Central, but there was no major tree damage.

INSTALLING A NEW CULVERT - During previous storms, water was backed up behind the train shed, dammed by the tracks.  So I figured this would be a good time to install a culvert to drain the rain water before it built up and ran over the tracks.  It only took about 20 minutes to dig a spot for a 4-inch plastic pipe, fit ballast around it, and dig a channel on each side.

AFTERMATH - Unfortunately the 4-inch culvert couldn't keep up with the floodwaters, and during the night the flood poured over the tracks and left a lot of floating debris behind.  It even washed out the ballast around the new culvert.

ALMOST KEPT UP - A  lot of water flowed under the smaller bridge.  By Sunday afternoon it was doing fine despite a lot of standing water around the railroad.

NEW PONDS - Bella looks out over the scene, where a lot of new ponds had formed overnight.  A few hours later they had disappeared.

OVERWHELMED - The small bridge drained a lot of water but it's obvious that it couldn't keep up with the sustained downpour.  Some of the floodwaters flowed over the tracks nearby.

WASHOUT - At this location the rushing water pulled the ballast out from the track.  It didn't wash out from under the track, so the track will be fine.