A neighborhood with a long-standing flooding problem finally found relief, not from a new engineering project, but from a family of beavers.
Their dams naturally slowed and redirected water flow, reducing flood risk while quietly boosting biodiversity in the area.
Engineers had proposed several fixes over the years, most of them costly and slow to build. In the end, the beavers got there first, at no cost to the town.
Local officials say the dams are already reducing standing water after heavy rain, and they expect the benefit to grow as the beaver population settles in.
