The primary cause of non-porous soil a few weeks ago was ground frost.
Ground frost is what makes mud season muddy.
That frost started letting go around my house a few days before the flood problems began and certainly the ground frost problem in Pelham this year was no worse than average. All indications are that, at least in northern Pelham, ground water levels along the brooks matched the flood levels. Moreover, the pattern of flooding and the pattern at which the flooding has receded suggests that the problem is that the brooks are obstructed and that the obstructions are primarily downstream of central Pelham - perhaps downstream of all of Pelham. By the way, over the past week Golden Brook has been receding by 1 or 2 inches a day and is now down to the levels that are now common in the spring. All Rights Reserved.