In the aftermath of the severe storm on Sunday, August 18, that brought record-breaking rain to the region, cleanup efforts continue around Newtown to fully recover from the damage, with the community coming together to support those still impacted.

As of Wednesday, August 28, First Selectman Jeff Capeci said the town is now “in pretty good shape” and that he has been in regular contact with Public Works Director Fred Hurley and Public Works General Supervisor Anthony Capozziello.

According to Hurley, the town overall received an average of 12 inches of rain from the storm. He said the number slightly varies depending on the street and area, saying “you might have a street that got 11 inches, while the street right next to it got 9 inches.” Things such as how sloped the ground is or being positioned next to a river can make certain areas more prone to flooding, he added.

Surging water and rainfall caused dozens of local roads to get washed out and have to go through repairs. Around 40 roads were either partially or fully closed the morning of Monday, August 19, and by the morning of the next day, only four or five roads were still fully impassable.

By Wednesday, August 28, Hurley said every road in town was open with the exception of Stony Brook Road. The south end of that road, which connects Currituck and Brennan roads, was closed. He said it will take a complete culvert replacement before the road is reopened to through-traffic, but there is access to all homes.

“That’s the only road that has a piece of it which is still closed off, but all the others — Great Quarter Road, Hattertown Road, and Pond Brook Road — all of the roads in town are open; the through roads,” Hurley continued.

Capeci noted that with the vast majority of roads repaired so that they are at least passable, service workers are starting to repair all of the blockages, or any part of the roads where asphalt was destroyed and the base was put back in gravel. The first selectman added they are currently working on asphalting. That work, he said, will finish in the next couple of weeks.

Hurley said the fast turnaround for getting everything up and running is where the public pre-bid for equipment, contractors, and materials the Town does every spring pays off.

“Because we did public bids on all of these items, we were able to engage the private contractors immediately to start work on [recovery], and it was the combination of the Town crew and the contracted crews working with us that we were able to respond so quickly,” Hurley explained.

He says that this is all a lesson learned from back around 2010, 2011, and 2012, when Newtown was hit with three major storms.

“It became so critical to have all those private contractors readily available, whether they were tree crews for trimming and cutting trees or fixing a road that was washed out,” Hurley said. “And the quicker you can get involved, the quicker you can open up everything for people.”

Rethinking Dirt Roads

Hurley also said Town’s End Road, which is primarily a dirt road, got “really wiped out.” The road has reopened, but he said the drainage system there will have to be completely rebuilt.

With how dirt roads such as Town’s End Road are heavily impacted by these sorts of storms, Hurley says they are seriously looking at going back and rethinking how they manage these dirt roads in the first place.

“You end up putting material down, and then the next storm, it gets washed out. So we’re going to be taking a longer view of what we need to do on these roads. That’s going to be a work in progress for a while,” Hurley said.

Hurley noted Newtown has about nine or ten miles of dirt roads. A lot of them, he said, are the favorites of equestrians who ride their horses on them, and that there are also a couple of scenic roads in town that happen to be dirt roads. While he says it is a part of the character of the town to have these nuances such as scenic roads and dirt roads, “from a purely budget standpoint, they’re not cost effective.

“You have to go back and regrade it over and over again,” Hurley continued. “You inevitably end up replacing material and/or you try to put drainage systems on a dirt road, and it’s very ineffective, and it becomes a high maintenance item.”

What has changed over the last 20-30 years, according to Hurley, is that when the town has gotten storms, while they have been relatively short in duration, they have been very intense in impact. The other problem, he says, is the culmination of multiple storms over time. Each storm in itself may not be that severe, but that the accumulating impact is what can cause a lot of the damage.

“The other thing that we were worried about, if we had wind storms coming through now, is that the root systems of all these trees have been seriously compromised by all this rain,” Hurley said. “You get 12 and a half, 13 inches of rain, it compromises root systems.

“We were very fortunate that there was little or no wind, because if there had been, you would have had a whole different scenario than what we went through,” he said.

Hurley said that post-storm cleanup work for Town and contractor crews is probably going to continue “for a month or more.” Now that most roads are passable and open, the goal for Public Works is to check every shoulder in town for stability, and tend to the many shoulders that have been washed away from the storm.

He and Capeci both pointed out that people who have damages have to do more than fill out the crisis survey.

“A lot of people mistakenly think that the survey, where work was done to get a general idea of the damage, means that they’re automatically registered with FEMA, and they are not. And that’s really a critical thing; they have to do step number two, which is to file an actual application with FEMA,” Hurley explained.

According to Capeci, eligibility and qualification status is yet to be determined by FEMA. He noted a section has been added to the front page of the Town website, labeled “Flooding Recovery Information,” where people can learn more about how to record the damage and where to reach out for support, among other things.

“And if we get a grant from FEMA, if we become eligible, then they will be able to apply for reimbursement,” Capeci noted. “And it is reimbursement unfortunately, so people may have to pay for the repairs up front with the hope to get reimbursement later on by FEMA.”

Capeci also said that anyone who has immediate needs should reach out to Human Services, and also to Human Services Director Natalie Griffith. He knows a few residents were placed in alternate housing through the Town department after flooding damage rendered their homes uninhabitable.

“I feel for everybody who suffered property loss or damage, and the Town is here to do what we can,” Capeci said. “Certainly reach out to us and Human Services if they have a need in future storms. When you have a storm like this, the best thing to do is stay home and stay dry if you live in a house where you’re not at risk of flooding.”

The other thing Capeci pointed out was for people to not try to drive through standing water, as no one has any idea how deep the water may be and that it can easily damage vehicles. Multiple people needed to be rescued by first responders on August 18 after they drove into waters that were deeper than expected, stalling vehicles and creating dangerous conditions.

Botsford and Newtown Hook & Ladder firefighters, and Newtown Underwater Search And Rescue (NUSAR) members were among those called to the area of 220 South Main Street to perform multiple high water rescues after operators drove into high waters there. NUSAR, Botsford and Dodgingtown Fire were also dispatched to a water rescue near the area of South Main at Button Shop Road.

Using their department’s high-water rescue vehicle, Newtown Police saved three individuals from rushing waters on South Main Street, and multiple agencies collaborated to save a family of three and multiple pets from an Old Station House Road residence.

NUSAR was also dispatched to assist with water rescues in Bridgewater and Redding on Sunday.

At daybreak Monday, multiple vehicles were still being fished out of streams, including a series of vehicles that had been washed to the north of South Main Street/Route 25 opposite Bryan Lane by the surging Pootatuck River.

Meanwhile, Hurley encourages people driving through town to stay away from safety cones or yellow tape along the edges of roads.

“They are being marked for a reason,” he said.

Community Support

It has not just been Public Works helping with reparations from the storm. Many people throughout the entire Newtown community have done their part to pitch in and help others in their time of need.

The Red Cross provided Flood Clean Up Kits on August 24 to anyone who was negatively impacted by the storm, which represented the remnants of Hurricane Ernesto. Red Cross volunteers set up a station on the Fairfield Hills campus near Keating Farms Avenue, where Newtown Farmers Market usually sets up.

The kits included items such as a mop, broom, pail, scrub brush, disinfectant, gloves, and trash bags. The Red Cross also provided drinking water test kits from York Lab in Newtown. The Church Hill Road business is also offering a reduced rate for bacteria testing for drinking water due to the recent flooding conditions.

Many people showed up to a community clean-up event at Sticks and Stones Farm also held on Saturday to help the farm recover and rebuild after the devastating flood damage. According to Love Has a Home Here Founder Bill Donaldson, a dam near a stream that runs through the property burst and “just sent a wall of water down.”

The pond area at the front of the property became “just this big mess” according to Donaldson, because of all the rushing water.

“[The cattails] were obviously already there, but the water came around them and brushed them down,” he said. “They’re kind of a problem because they sort of block the water from flowing through. I actually had to chop a channel through myself by hand a couple days ago because the water couldn’t really filter through it very well, and it caused the water to start to spread.”

One of the rental cabins at the property also got destroyed. Donaldson said that was “thankfully” the only real structural casualty that they had. Real Food CT, which is also connected to Sticks and Stones Farm through a walking trail, also got heavily impacted from the flood.

As of the start of the clean-up event, gravel from the parking area got pushed from one level to the other, and several of the trails around the property were still uneven and muddy. Volunteers dropped in throughout the day.

Volunteers also dropped off food, ranging from lemonade and bagels to donuts, muffins, and cinnamon rolls to give people energy as they helped repair the area.

Love Has a Home Here Project Manager Madelyne Ainley, who was also at the property the day of the storm, said they “feel the love” and are incredibly grateful to everyone for their help.

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Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.