EMERGENCY TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE RECOVERY WATER BASIN ASSESSMENT AND FLOOD HAZARD MITIGATION ALTERNATIVES MOYER CREEK HERKIMER COUNTY, NEW YORK April 2014 MMI #5231-01 Photo Source: Milone & MacBroom, Inc. (2013) This document was prepared for the New York State Department of Transportation, in cooperation with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Prepared by: MILONE & MACBROOM, INC. 134 Main Street, Suite A1 New Paltz, NY 12561 (845) 633-8153 www.miloneandmacbroom.com Copyright 2014 Milone & MacBroom, Inc. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page 1.0 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Project Background ...................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Nomenclature ............................................................................................................... 3 2.0 DATA COLLECTION .......................................................................................................... 3 2.1 Initial Data Collection .................................................................................................. 3 2.2 Public Outreach ............................................................................................................ 3 2.3 Field Assessment .......................................................................................................... 3 2.4 Watershed Land Use .................................................................................................... 5 2.5 Geomorphology ............................................................................................................ 5 2.6 Hydrology ..................................................................................................................... 8 2.7 Infrastructure .............................................................................................................. 10 3.0 FLOODING HAZARDS AND MITIGATION ALTERNATIVES ................................ 12 3.1 Flooding History along Moyer Creek ........................................................................ 12 3.2 Post-Flood Community Response .............................................................................. 15 3.3 Flood Mitigation Analysis .......................................................................................... 15 3.4 High Risk Area #1 – Road Crossings in Frankfort Gorge ......................................... 16 3.5 High Risk Area #2 – High Bank Failure and Levees ................................................. 18 3.6 High Risk Area #3 – Main Street Bridge, Canal Walls, and Existing Dam ............... 21 4.0 RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................................................... 27 WATER BASIN ASSESSMENT AND FLOOD HAZARD MITIGATION ALTERNATIVES MOYER CREEK, HERKIMER COUNTY, NEW YORK APRIL 2014 TC - i TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued) Page LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Estimated Bankfull Discharge, Width, and Depth ...................................................8 Table 2 Moyer Creek Peak Discharges at its Confluence with the Mohawk River ..............9 Table 3 Moyer Creek Peak Discharges 1,800 Feet Downstream of the Intersection With Route 171 and Furnace Road ........................................................................10 Table 4 Final Hydrology for HEC-RAS Modeling of Moyer Creek ..................................10 Table 5 Summary of Stream Crossing Data ........................................................................11 Table 6 Summary of Important Elevations .........................................................................23 Table 7 Cost Range for Recommended Alternatives .........................................................30 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Moyer Creek Drainage Basin Location Map ...........................................................2 Figure 2 Moyer Creek Watercourse Stationing ......................................................................4 Figure 3 Moyer Creek Drainage Basin Aerial........................................................................6 Figure 4 Moyer Creek Profile ................................................................................................7 Figure 5 FEMA Delineated Floodplain ................................................................................13 Figure 6 Moyer Creek High Risk Area #1 – Road Crossings in Frankfort Gorge ...............17 Figure 7 Moyer Creek High Risk Area #2 – High Bank Failure and Levees ......................19 Figure 8 Moyer Creek High Risk Area #3 – Main Street Bridge, Canal Walls, and Existing Dam .........................................................................................................22 Figure 9 Hydraulic Modeling of Dam Removal and Main Street Bridge Replacement ......24 LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix A Summary of Data and Reports Collected Appendix B Field Data Collection Forms Appendix C Moyer Creek Photo Log Appendix D Detention Basin Computations WATER BASIN ASSESSMENT AND FLOOD HAZARD MITIGATION ALTERNATIVES MOYER CREEK, HERKIMER COUNTY, NEW YORK APRIL 2014 TC - ii ABBREVIATIONS/ACRONYMS BIN Bridge Identification Number CFS Cubic Feet per Second CME Creighton Manning Engineering D/S Downstream FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency FIRM Flood Insurance Rate Map FIS Flood Insurance Study FT Feet FTP File Transfer Protocol GIS Geographic Information System HEC-RAS Hydrologic Engineering Center – River Analysis System LiDAR Light Detection and Ranging MMI Milone & MacBroom, Inc. NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NWS National Weather Service NYSDEC New York State Department of Environmental Conservation NYSDOT New York State Department of Transportation SQ. MI. Square Mile STA River Station USACE United States Army Corps of Engineers USGS United States Geological Survey WSEL Water Surface Elevation YR Year WATER BASIN ASSESSMENT AND FLOOD HAZARD MITIGATION ALTERNATIVES MOYER CREEK, HERKIMER COUNTY, NEW YORK APRIL 2014 TC - iii 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Project Background A severe precipitation system in June 2013 caused excessive flow rates and flooding in a number of communities in the greater Utica region. As a result, the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) in consultation with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) retained Milone & MacBroom, Inc. (MMI) through a subconsultant agreement with Creighton Manning Engineering (CME) to undertake an emergency transportation infrastructure recovery water basin assessment of 13 watersheds in Herkimer, Oneida, and Montgomery Counties, including the Moyer Creek watershed. Prudent Engineering was also contracted through CME to provide support services, including field survey of stream cross sections. Moyer Creek flows through the towns of Litchfield and Frankfort and the village of Frankfort in Herkimer County, New York. Figure 1 depicts the contributing watershed of the creek. Moyer Creek drains an area of 20 square miles. The drainage basin is approximately 47.5 percent forested, with rural residential and agriculture land uses. Residential and commercial land uses are concentrated in the lower part of the basin in the village of Frankfort. The creek has an average slope of 1.5 percent over its stream length of 12.7 miles. Though it not severely steep, Moyer Creek generates a substantial amount of stream power, especially as it flows through the steep Frankfort Gorge, where the channel has a slope of 2.0 percent. Sediments transported from the upper reaches of the creek are moved to the lower gradient reaches in the village of Frankfort, where they are deposited in the channel, restricting flow capacity and blocking stream crossings. Compounding the issues of sediment transport and stream hydraulics is the fact that commercial and residential development in the village of Frankfort occurs in the floodplain, in some cases to within 20 feet of the edge of the stream. When the channel exceeds its hydraulic capacity or becomes clogged with sediment debris, it finds new and destructive paths through the community, leaving homes and property damaged by floodwaters, bridges damaged, and unstable creek bed and banks that are at risk for further degradation and failure. The goals of the subject water basin assessment were to: 1. Collect and analyze information relative to the June 28, 2013 flood and other historic flooding events. 2. Identify critical areas subject to flood risk. 3. Develop and evaluate flood hazard mitigation alternatives for each high risk area within the stream corridor. WATER BASIN ASSESSMENT AND FLOOD HAZARD MITIGATION ALTERNATIVES MOYER CREEK, HERKIMER COUNTY, NEW YORK APRIL 2014 PAGE 1 Copyright:© 2013 National Geographic Society, i-cubed SOURCE(S): Map By: CMP Figure 1: Moyer Creek Drainage NYDOT: Emergency Transportation MMI#: 5231-01 Infrastructure Recovery Original: 1/2/2014 99 Realty Drive Cheshire, CT 06410 Basin Location Map Revision: 3/19/2014 (203) 271-1773 Fax: (203) 272-9733 ³ MXD: Y:\5231-01\GIS\Maps\Figure 1 Maps\Figure 1 Moyer Creek.mxd LOCATION: Herkimer County, New York Scale: 1 in = 5,000 ft www.miloneandmacbroom.com 1.2 Nomenclature In this report and associated mapping, stream stationing is used as an address to identify specific points along the watercourse. Stationing is measured in feet and begins at the mouth of Moyer Creek at STA 0+00 and continues upstream to STA 680+00. As an example, STA 73+00 indicates