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Greene County Soil & Water Conservation District

Melodywood Flood Mitigation Project

Project Sponsor

Village of Hunter

Project Coordinator

Greene County Soil & Water Conservation District

Project Design

Natural Resources Conservation Service

Project Cost

$ 727,349

Initially constructed in 1986-87, the Melodywood condominiums have experienced repetitive damage from the Schoharie Creek. Located in the Village of Hunter, the complex was substantially damaged by the flood of April 1987 during its construction in October 1995 a severe runoff event resulted in damage to the site which made the structures extremely vulnerable to future floods. Months later. In January 1996, a freak mid-winter rain on snow event produced a flood of a 100 year magnitude, and the streambanks failure became extreme, with the immediate safety of the structure and additional adjoining properties threatened.

The site presented a number of stability problems, with eroded banks as high as 27', deep silty clay soils under the glacial outwash materials the buildings were constructed on, and severe loading at the top of the slope due to the buildings.

On the lower project reach, the flood undercut retaining walls which had been in place for many previous floods and it eroded mature vegetation which had been providing streambank stability.

Based on site observations and geologic investigations, it was determined that the flood event had resulted in several areas of streambed degradation, with the channel bottom incising as much as 5-6 feet in places. When the site was de-watered during construction, rock rip rap which had been keyed 3-4 feet into the streambed at the time of construction, was now 3-4 feet above the current streambed.

The down cutting action of the channel into the clay materials resulted in the failure of the adjoining streambanks and upper slopes. As a result of the flood, a 1500' reach of the Schoharie was now at severe risk in future floods.