Framingham Awarded $710,502 For Flood Fight

FRAMINGHAM, MA - Over $700,000 is on its way to Framingham to protect the town against floods.

Framingham Public Works announced today that its application to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Grant for Hazard Mitigation has been approved in the amount of $710,520.00.

Distributed and managed by the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), a contract has been written and executed by both the Town and the State. This important hazard mitigation project will upgrade three culverts between A Street and Concord Street for flood mitigation.

“This is a critical project that will both minimize flood damage and improve the natural stream and habitat. We are looking forward to the construction in the spring of 2017,” said Peter Sellers, Executive Director, Framingham Public Works, in a release.

During severe storms, the undersized culverts are inundated by the local tributary to Cochituate Brook causing flooding of yards, driveways, and garages on private property and occasionally flooding public roads.

Road closures that result from flooding limit access to critical facilities including Framingham High School (a designated Mass Care Shelter and Alternative Pick-up location for evacuation protocols), a helipad near the high school, the A Street Sewage Pumping Station and the Saxonville Fire Station, according to a release.

This culvert replacement project is currently in the design phase. In addition to mitigating flooding, the work will provide much needed natural restoration in this historically developed area that discharges to an impaired waterbody, according to a release.