Burnham Memorial Hall Wet Flood Proofing, Lincoln, VT

This municipal building, situated on the banks of the New Haven River, had flooded several times from the late 1990’s to the early 2000’s. With the help of Engineering Ventures, wet flood proofing was added to this historic building in 2007. Flood gates were installed for lower level windows and doors. Pop-up valves were added to the floor slab to keep the floor from lifting from hydrostatic pressure as well as a sump-pump system to keep the water level to a minimum.

When Hurricane Irene hit in 2011, the water outside the building was 4 feet above the lower level floor. The pop-up valves worked as planned, keeping most of the water out of the building. A team of volunteers worked to dry out the minimal 2 inches of water in the basement and resumed full use in just a few days.

•