Beavers that were –  well, as busy as beavers – plugged up a culvert running under Route 13 near the center of Dunbarton overnight, which flooded the road and slowed morning traffic on the town’s major through-road.

“We looked up the pipe and it was totally blocked,” said Leon Gadwah, one of several state Department of Transportation workers on site Wednesday morning.  The culvert had been fine the day before, carrying water from a wetlands on the road’s east side to a small creek on the west side. “They did it overnight. It doesn’t take them much time.”

Police Chief Chris Remillard said the water completely covered the northbound lane when it was first reported. He spent the morning directing traffic on what had become a one-lane road. “I’m the day shift,” he noted. 

 By 8:30 a.m., the culvert had been cleared, but it took some time for the water to rush through and clear the road.

More than six inches of rain have fallen in the region over the past week, raising the level of ponds and streams.