Monday’s deluge of rain kept area public works crews busy but, for the most part, the heavy precipitation didn’t result in serious problems.

Most towns in the region had to deal with blocked culverts, clogged drainage grates and localized street flooding. But – depending on the community – downed trees, moderate washouts and at least one bridge closure were caused by Monday’s heavy rains.

“We got through this storm in pretty good shape,” said Athol Public Works Director Dick Kilhart. “Interestingly enough, our flow at the wastewater treatment plant went from a little over 1 million to 2 million gallons in a period of four hours. I don’t know what the official figure is but, gosh, we got close to three inches of rain around here. We try to preempt things by going out and cleaning catch basins so the water can go where the water is supposed to go, and not in peoples’ yards or basements.”

The DPW director said he and his crews tend to keep a close eye on the region around Lake Ellis because of the low-lying beach road that’s there.

“That did not flood,” he said. “We have continual wildlife management control up there.”

Beavers blocking culverts that drain the lake have been an ongoing problem at the lake.

“We try to be proactive and have a trapper come in and do some work there so there isn’t a beaver dam that’s 10 feet high that lets go and washes away the road,” said Kilhart.

Winchendon

In Winchendon, a half-mile stretch of River Street/US Route 202 was shut down late Monday afternoon between Brown and Front streets due to the closure of a bridge over the Millers River. The bridge was closed to vehicular traffic when the river reached the top of a flood gauge attached to one of its supports. Speaking to the Athol Daily News shortly before noon Tuesday, MassDOT spokesperson John Goggin said the bridge was to remain closed until a department dive team had a chance to examine the span.

Royalston

Royalston DPW Director Jaret Thiem said the town had some moderate washouts on Taft Hill Road, Beryl Hill Road, Deland Lane, as well as Millyard Road. As of Tuesday afternoon, crews were still “hauling in gravel and stone to fix washouts and repair culvert pipes. Work should be completed before the weekend,” he said No roads needed to be closed due to the storm.

Phillipston

In Phillipston, Highway Superintendent Rick Tenney was especially busy Monday. The only two members of his two-man crew both called in sick, leaving him to handle all the work on his own. Tuesday morning, Tenney said, “We’ve had a lot of debris in the roads. First thing Monday morning we had a tree down across (Royalston Road). We’ve got one road that’s flooded over right now – Brooks Village Road.”

Tenney said Royalston road wasn’t closed to traffic for too long because a Good Samaritan from Royalston “actually put a chain on it and pulled it out of the way so that traffic could at least get by. The Phillipston PD assisted me and we (cut) it up and put it aside until we can clean it up.”

“We had some plugged up culvert pipes,” he continued. “Most of them have screens on them and the debris kind of plugs up the screen. And we have a couple of roads we used to have trouble with, but when we repaved them, we added secondary pipes as a backup, and it’s actually worked out quite well. Those roads that used to flood in a storm like this didn’t flood over.”

Petersham

Petersham Highway Superintendent Greg Waid said that despite some debris and fallen limbs to deal with, the storm didn’t create any problems or emergencies for his department.

“The unfortunate thing is,” said Kilhart, “these extreme events we have now – whatever your beliefs are about global warming – they’re here. We had them sporadically years ago; one here, one there. But it seems like these are regular occurrences now. Four inches of rain – almost five inches of rain in Greenfield as of last night – that’s uncommon the week before Christmas. That’s not a normal thing.

“We used to plan for 100-year events, and 100-year events are a regular occurrence now. That’s the big problem. The structures we have can’t take the water we’re getting and that presents issues, not just for us here in Athol but for folks all across Massachusetts.”

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.