The beautiful Mill Brook
Downgraded to a tropical storm, Hurricane Irene made its way relatively languidly through the northern Appalachians, dumping record amounts of rain and causing massive flooding. Little Charlemont, which, in the past, had escaped floods, ice storms, and tornadoes, took a direct hit. The beautiful Mill Brook, for which our place is named, decided to play Niagara Falls for a day and roared down the valley, ripping out trees along the banks, which smashed into bridges and destroyed them.
The bridge by Goat Rising
In DuPree’s horse pasture, the brook jumped its banks, tumbled across the field and roared around our house, wiping out the dog pen and turning our meadows into moonscapes. For five stomach-churning days, it continued to race past us along the beds of two small streams that surround the back field, while its normal course lay empty.
Trees and silt caused the brook to change course.
On Thursday, Jerry and Brian DuPree tried, with backhoes and a small bulldozer, to force the brook back into place, only to watch it jump out again in the wake of another flash flood.
At 5:00 Friday afternoon the cavalry finally arrived.
Help at last
National Guard troops with giant bulldozers moved earth and rocks and trees to get the Mill Brook back on course. No Frenchman on D-Day was ever more elated to see American soldiers take to the field. They worked through the Labor Day weekend, securing the brook, and on Monday, with more flash floods predicted, they showed up on our property to cut up trees already in the brook to prevent them hitting the Bissell Bridge, which, thankfully, received no injuries from the storm.
Entertaining the troops at Mill Brook House
Badly in need of relandscaping, Mill Brook House is presently closed to guests. We hope to open again next summer. Goodnight, Irene.
(Photos courtesy of Steven Sternbach and Jerry DuPree.)