Residents press Northampton to address chronic street and basement flooding

Residents at the hazard mitigation plan meeting pressed city staff to address long-standing stormwater and drainage problems that they say cause repeated street and basement flooding.

John Savison, a Florence resident, told staff he lives on Oak Street and described frequent flooding when storm drains are overwhelmed: "It regularly over tops the curb and flows down my driveway into my yard," he said, asking whether the plan's list of localized flooding sites was meant to be comprehensive. Kaplan replied the city would add such locations to the plan and that DPW is aware of catch-basin and capacity issues.

Paula Brettsky described multiple recurring drainage failures at Alamo Court and Ryan Road, including at least one home with regular basement flooding. She said she had heard at a city council meeting that some homeowners had "tapped into the sewer system" to handle stormwater and urged the city to inventory those connections rather than penalize residents without addressing aging infrastructure. "We got storm drains that are over a 100 years old," Brettsky said, urging a broader look at repair costs and potential low-cost green infrastructure or student-engagement options.

City staff acknowledged the claims but did not announce an enforcement or inventory plan at the meeting. Kaplan said she would incorporate residents’ suggestions into revisions of the draft plan before it is submitted to MEMA and invited people to follow up with staff by email.

The residents’ comments in this meeting place spotlight on local-scale stormwater issues not fully captured by citywide flood mapping and underline tensions between enforcement of illegal connections and investment in aging storm infrastructure.