BELCHERTOWN, Mass. - Over the weekend, heavy amounts of rainfall led to significant damage in Belchertown. 

"Soak a neighborhood for four days in the summertime and see what happens, or smell what happens," said Joe Kenneally, a town resident. "It was pretty bad. It is a lot better now, but it was unpleasant."

It's not just a smell affecting East Street residents. "My backyard is completely destroyed," Kenneally said. 

What You Need To Know

  • Heavy rainfall contributed to a beaver dam to breach in Belchertown over the weekend. The breach caused East Street to collapse
  • The flooding also caused significant damage to homeowner's properties on the road
  • Rep. Jake Oliveira and Sen. Eric Lesser toured East Street and are hoping to secure state funding to help residents affected
  • The beaver dam was on Mass Wildlife property, which is owned by the state

Early Sunday morning, heavy rains contributed to a beaver dam to breach a half mile up the road. The dam was located on Mass Wildlife property. The breach led to serious flooding on resident's properties and a portion of the road collapsed. The road is now closed to through traffic and those who live on the road can only go one way.

Spectrum News 1 spoke to Linda and Steve Wood earlier this week.  The couple's driveway was completely washed out. They are now left dealing with a problem they said the state could have prevented. 

"It was an act of nature, but it was on their property and now my property is basically ruined," said Steve Wood.

State rep. Jake Oliveira came out and toured this site Monday and again with Sen. Eric Lesser on Wednesday. They both said they want the state to take responsibility. They are hoping to secure funding to help neighbors who were affected and are looking at ways to prevent something like this from happening again.

"The dam was on state property and is now damaging private property and town property, so the state really needs to come in here and make it right," Sen. Lesser said.

"It is my hope there will be some sort of disaster relief fund that will come back to the homeowners, come to the cities and towns, allow us to rebuild our roadways, fix the beaver issues that are upstream, but also provide relief to the homeowners here," Rep. Oliveira said.

While residents are hoping to receive financial help from the state, the Wood's said they have already spent $10,000 out of pocket and the cost doesn't include damage to their basement, cars, or the rest or their driveway and yard.

"It could be $100,000 easily that we have lost here and our property is going to be totally changed," Steve Wood said. "There is nothing anybody can do about that, but I think it could have been prevented."

Spectrum News 1 reached out multiple times to Mass Wildlife regarding the upkeep of the beaver dam but have not heard back.