The Great Flood of 2010 was a perfect storm. Conditions lined up ensuring that no matter how much precipitation we received that streams were going to overflow, as the ground was already a mushy sponge. Snowmelt supplemented by rain already filled drainage ditches when the first of two storms hit on March 15. Waters rose. Streets flooded. The Pawtuxet spilled into the residential and commercial neighborhoods lining its banks.

By local standards, this was a big one.

The second punch came two weeks later, a storm that showered almost nine inches of rain in two days. Over five weeks the area was saturated with more than 21 inches of rain.

Now basements that had always been dry filled, as ground water pushed in. Entire neighborhoods far from ponds, streams and rivers became bogs and the Pawtuxet that was already lapping at its banks flowed freely over bridges and down streets. The river drowned enclaves of homes and businesses. The damage was extensive, with some of the most vivid pictures coming from those taken from the air. Water washed through Warwick Mall and a section of Route 95 was submerged as the Pawtuxet cut a swath through Warwick and Cranston.

One of its victims was the Warwick wastewater treatment plant. The plant along with the Warwick Animal Shelter were protected by a levee that had held back the waters of the first storm, but was no match for the rains later in the month. The immediate concern was the health of the community, and within less than a week the Warwick Sewer Authority was able to restore the basic chlorination of wastewater before releasing it into the river. Fully restoring the treatment process took almost three months, and it was even longer before systems were fully restored. The cost was $14 million that was paid through a combination of insurance claims – $10 million – FEMA grants and authority funds.

Remarkably, raising the height of the levee to avert future flooding of such a major component of the city’s infrastructure was not on the top of the federal list of priorities. This seemed like a “no brainer,” as WSA executive director Janine Burke Wells points out. But from FEMA’s perspective, their responsibility ended with restoring what had been damaged by the flood, not new construction.

Fortunately, local common sense persisted. Through the efforts of Rhode Island Emergency Management Director Jamia McDonald and Fire Chief Edmund Armstrong, who was also Warwick’s emergency management director, FEMA agreed to leave the public assistance grant process open. Finally, after four years, FEMA approved $3.6 million of a $4 million project to elevate the levee by about 5.5 feet.

But even with the money in hand, the project has not run smoothly. The so-called “bump” is boulders buried within the original levee. They were not shown in original plans for the levee and thwarted efforts to create a wall through interlinking sheathing. The new plan that involves a wall of concrete blocks topped by earth pushed up costs but is close to being completed.

Burke Wells calls the levee “a thing of beauty.”

Somehow, wastewater treatment and an earthen embankment don’t evoke images of beauty. But this measure of protection, while not infallible, is reassuring. Common sense has prevailed, and that is a thing of beauty.