The Flood of July 30, 2021
July 2021 was a stormy month. The biggest storm came on the night of July 29-30, with almost 5 inches of rain (the most since Hurricane Irene, we believe). The flooded Stony Brook swept many old snags and branches out of its course and overflowed the Rogers Refuge marsh. A five-inch fish was found stranded on the road near the Water Company the next day.
On July 31, Greg Kazmierczak was kayaking the Stony Brook. For the first time in months he was able to paddle upstream to the Refuge, where he found one of the Williams memorial benches floating in the brook. He sent a message to Lee and Melinda Varian, and the three met Sunday morning and were able to retrieve this bench as well as the second one which was snagged on a tree root. Warmest thanks to Greg for his help!
The Varians will engineer a means of anchoring the benches with concrete foundations. Volunteers to help with repositioning the benches and installing anchors would be very welcome. If you can help, contact Lee and Melinda at the Friends address: