April 8, 2022, 11:00 AM: I tried to drive in to see how the Refuge had fared after the heavy rains of last evening. I made it as far as West Drive, which was still (about an hour ago) having an inch or two of water flowing across it. So I turned around and will try again later (either today or tomorrow). Looking to the left, the marsh has a lot of water in it.
4:30 PM: I’ve just gotten back from the Refuge. West Drive no longer has water flowing across it and the driveway is fine (although with some puddles) all the way to the parking lot and the Water Company plant.
From the mud deposits, it is obvious that our paths to the observation tower were underwater earlier, but they are OK now. The first two photos (below) are looking from the tower toward the Purple Martin gourd towers, and then looking to the left toward the Orange trail. Lots of water in the Upper marsh today.
The next two photos (below) are a stream of water rushing from the Upper marsh into the Lower marsh under the culvert which also houses the hose to the Lower marsh. Lots of water in both marshes today.
The next photo is on the Orange trail, which from the mud marks was also underwater earlier, but is fine now. Again loads of water in the area between the Orange trail and the Blue trail/Stony Brook.
The finale is the start of the Blue trail next to the pump hol. There was about 3 inches of water flowing from the Upper marsh completely inundating the trail and flowing down into the Stony Brook. There was a lot of water all the way to the Boy Scout bridge (and I expect much further along the trail). The pump was working away, moving some of the water back into the Upper marsh (but not really adding to the problem).
I expect that the water will recede in the next day or so, but there will probably be some branches washed onto the various trails. It will also be important to see if the flow next to the pump hole has undermined the trail in a dangerous way. It certainly looked like the majority of water was rushing over the trail to the brook, but it was hard to tell for sure.
Lee