Water was backed up on Church Street last week around a cofferdam in Put-In Creek, and on Wednesday morning, after a heavy overnight rain, on both Main and Church streets, as Virginia Department of Transportation crews prepare to install new drainage pipes under Church Street near the firehouse. 

Virginia Department of Transportation construction manager Bill Collins told the Mathews County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday that a pump being used to move water from the north side of Church Street to the south side had been working fine until the rain began.

“Mother Nature is extremely cruel,” he said.

Collins said that a large pipe carrying the filtered creek water into the parking lot of the firehouse was completely legal. The pipe has been creating a small geyser that whirlpools into a drain near Brickbat Road.

“The pipe goes into a drain pipe,” he said. “It doesn’t erode the creek.”

Collins said that DEQ has been visiting the site ev...