NRCS is working with Cranston and Johnston officials and communities to implement flood protection and floodplain restoration practices in the Pocasset River watershed to reduce flood damage, improve residents' health and safety, and improve river and stream ecosystems.
The Pocasset River floods portions of the Town of Johnston and the City of Cranston on a regular basis, with flooding becoming more frequent and widespread in recent years. Property damages are recurrent and costly where severe flooding occurs.
This project aims to reduce flood damages in Cranston, Johnston, and adjacent un-incorporated areas resulting from floods on the Pocasset River for magnitudes up to and including the 100-year flood event.
Major flood-related problems include damage to residential, commercial, and industrial properties, increase in local government cost, and damage to roads and bridges. Other losses include decreased property value in flood-prone areas and loss of potential sites for commercial and industrial development.
Flooding impacts the health and safety of residents in inundated areas by limiting the access of emergency vehicles. The area’s surface and groundwater resources are also impacted from flooded on-site septic systems and sewer systems.
Site rehabilitation will require flood prevention improvements and the acquisition of floodplain conservation easements; specifically:
- Installation of sheet pile floodwalls along two sections of the Pocasset River;
- Acquisition of ~140 properties located within the floodplain and demolition of 134 structures located on those properties;
- Dry flood-proofing 25 structures;
- Installation of a bypass culvert along Simmons Brook; and
- Removal of a debris dam in the Pocasset River.
The estimated cost of the project is $48,455,590, with $48,318,090 being provided by federal funds under the Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations Program (WFPO or Public Law 83-566 [PL 566]).
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Watershed Facts
• 20.6 mi2
• 97% privately-owned
• 48% undeveloped, agricultural or non-industrial forest land
• 52% residential, commercial, otherwise developed
• ~39,000 residents
• 15 farms
• 100-year floodplain=1.5 mi2
About the Watershed
The Pocasset River watershed is located in the southeast corner of Providence County, Rhode Island, and is highly urbanized. Increased development has resulted in the severity and duration of flooding along portions of the Pocasset River in the Town of Johnston and City of Cranston becoming more frequent and widespread in the last 25 years. The major flood-related problems include loss of property values, damage to residential, commercial, and industrial properties, increase in local government cost, and damage to roads and bridges. Other losses include decreases in potential sites for commercial and industrial development.
Property damages are recurrent and costly where severe flooding occurs, with average annual damages exceeding $3.2 million. A total of 481 residential and commercial properties (homes, apartment dwelling units, businesses) are impacted by flooding; 432 residential dwelling units (individual homes and apartments) and 49 commercial and industrial properties. Flooding of commercial and residential properties occurs whenever 10, 25, and 100-year rainstorm events occur within the watershed.
A comprehensive watershed analysis - the Pocasset River Floodplain Management Study - was initiated in 2001 with federal funding from NRCS to provide solutions to continual flooding concerns and associated damages. The study was completed in 2007 and released in 2008; it provided the baseline for the technical Watershed Plan/Environmental Impact Statement (Plan-EIS) that began in July 2009 and with a first draft published for public comment in June 2019. The final draft was revised to incorporate public input and published in May 2020. After thorough review, NRCS issued the record of decision in August 2024.
The Pocasset River Watershed Plan/Environmental Impact Statement sets forth the current and future flooding conditions in the Pocasset River watershed. All hydrology, hydraulics, and watershed modeling were conducted in this phase of the project. As part of the study, damage reach maps were developed that provide a simple tool for property owners to determine if their property will flood and the frequency of each occurrence. Visit the Pocasset River Plan website for details.
