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How much rain fell from April 15 - April 16, 2007??

At least 6.85 inches of rain fell around the Byram River Watershed using the hourly rain gauge published by NOAA for the White Plains Airport.

You can see current hourly weather data including rain totals at White Plains Rain Totals (opens in a new window)

You can see daily weather history including rain totals at White Plains Daily Weather History (opens in a new window)

Where does the Byram River water originate?

Rain falling in the Byram River Watershed flows into the Byram River into Long Island Sound at Port Chester Harbor.

There are three major tributaries to the Byram River which join together near the intersection of Riversville Road and Sherwood Avenue near the Merritt Parkway Bridge.

Two of the tributaries are on the east side of Riversville Road and one of these tributaries is on the west side of the Riversville road.

The Byram River watershed includes all water that originates in Armonk, Wampus Lake, Byram Lake (East of Route 684 north of exit 3), part of Bedford, part of North Castle,

part of Banksville, part of Stanwich, Round Hill, Riversville, Glenville, Pemberwick, part of Port Chester, and Byram.

It is about 12 miles from the northern most part of the Byram River Watershed, just north of Byram Lake in Bedford to the Mill Street Bridge passing over the

Byram River between Byram and Port Chester.

The Byram River Watershed covers an area of about 20 square miles in the shape of a triangle with its point in Port Chester Harbor

(See the map of the Byram River watershed, which opens in new window).

During the 2007 Nor'easter, how much water traveled down the Byram River?

During a rainstorm, all rain that falls in the Byram River Watershed eventually is absorbed by the ground, evaporates or flows into Long Island Sound.

The amount of water in the river is proportional to the upstream land acreage at any point in the Bryam River.

During the 2007 Nor'easter, about 6.85 inches of rain fell over an area of 20 square miles. This represents 2.4 billion gallons of water.

In other terms this is 320 million cubic feet; 7,400 acre feet; or 9,600 Olympic sized swimming pools.

It is enough water to put a foot of water in 214,000 average sized basements.

How fast was the water flowing in the Byram River?

At its peak, the rain was falling an average of 0.625 inches an hour over a four hour period.

Over the Byram River Watershed this is about 220 million gallons per hour or 8,126 cubic feet per second.

The river opening under the Beagle Club Bridge near the intersection of Pecksland Road and Riversville Road

is rectangular and about 30 foot wide. At its peak, the water was about 10 foot high flowing under the bridge.

(Click to see the Beagle Club Bridge at its peak, this opens in new window).

If all of the rain made it past the Beagle Club Bridge, Then the water was traveling about 18 miles per hour under the Beagle Club Bridge.

(Click to see the rushing whitewater under the Beagle Club Bridge, this opens in new window).

What prevents further flooding?

The most effective way to prevent flooding it to slow the flow of water to the level the river can take it.

Every time a bridge floods, it acts like a dam and stores water. Water flows through based upon the opening under the bridge and the pressure behind it.

As the rain subsides, the water level behind the bridge drops until it acts solely like a bridge again.

The bridge on Riversville Road near the intersection of Riversville Road and Sherwood Avenue acted like a dam.

The water level behind the bridge rose 6 to 9 feet. This stored water and let it more slowly. This prevented further flooding downstream. Unfortunately

this also caused upstream flooding of homes and cars.

The Beagle Club Bridge also acted like a dam. The water level rose 8 to 12 feet. A lake was created behind the bridge which was almost a quarter mile

long and five hundred feet wide at its widest. This lake completely flooded Riversville road and the home at 7 Bailiwick road.

(Click to see one of the widest portions of the lake at Bailiwick Road, this opens in new window).

Can a dry road and bridge be created at Bailiwick Road?

The road and bridge were under about 12 - 24 inches of water over a span of about 500 feet.

The last two to three feet of depth was was partially caused by the water restriction created by the Beagle Club Bridge.

In order to keep the Bailiwick Road and the Bailiwick Bridge dry in the conditions of the April1 15th Nor'easter,

then the clearance of the bridge has to be raised to a level three feet higher than the current road surface over a span of about five hundred feet.

(Click to see the maximum flooding on Bailiwick Road and Bailiwick Bridge, this opens in new window).

This is impractical. Realistically, the bridge at Bailiwick Road will always flood. The bridge surface would remain dry if you raised it two to four feet,

but the bridge approaches will always be at risk for flooding.

An alternative solution would be to double the width of the Beagle Club Bridge. This would lower the water level behind the Beagle Club Bridge, create less white water

and lessen the flooding at Bailiwick Road.

However, increasing the flow at the Beagle Club Bridge would increase downstream flooding.

Please send any questions of Comments to DWL@Bailiwick2007.com