Cleanup Continues, More Rain Expected This Weekend—

Wet Weather Wallops Newtown

By Andrew Gorosko & Shannon Hicks

The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a Flood Warning early Sunday evening, and within hours Newtown’s fire companies began receiving calls for help from homeowners with water issues. Following a day of on-and-off showers, Sunday night brought a stronger front that dumped between two and three inches of rain on already saturated ground.

Because the rainstorm happened overnight, it was not until after daybreak Monday that the full scope of the storm’s damage was revealed.

The combination of heavy rain and melting snowpack across the headwaters of the Housatonic River in Massachusetts caused many of the rivers across southwest Connecticut to exceed their flood levels, according to NWS alerts. Tributaries along the Housatonic were experiencing moderate to major flooding, with gauge readings as high as six feet above their minor flood levels, also according to the weather service.

By Monday morning, March 7, calls were coming in at a steady pace from homeowners who needed help getting water out of their homes. At that point dozens of homes had anywhere from a few inches of water to a few feet, and volunteers responded as quickly as they could. All five of Newtown’s fire companies continued to receive calls for help well past the noon hour Monday.

Some Newtown schools had a delayed start on Monday, and morning kindergarten was canceled, but not until after the first round of school pickups began and bus drivers began reporting additional road issues. A delayed announcement concerning the start of school added to the morning’s issues. (See related story, “Robinson Explains 90-Minute Delay Call.”)

The Flood Warning was extended three times, first in the early hours of Monday, and a second time around midmorning, running until at least 1:45 Monday afternoon. The rain stopped by daybreak, but washouts continued to be reported. By 7 am, the stage at Stevenson Dam, just over the Monroe line, was at 21.2 feet. Normal flood stage is 11 feet. The Housatonic River was forecast to hit the 22-foot mark by 1 pm Monday, and then begin receding.

The weather service later extended its Flood Warning for the dam “until further notice.” On Tuesday morning the water level had receded to 16.1 feet. By Wednesday evening the water had receded to 12.6 feet, which was still above flooding levels.

Multiple roads were reported closed due to flooding overnight Sunday and into Monday. By shortly after 4 am Monday, Pond Brook Road had a sizable flood reported near its intersection with Hanover Road, causing Pond Brook road to be closed.

Fred Hurley, town director of public works, said that due to river water flowing over the Turkey Hill Road bridge, which crosses above the Pootatuck River, the town on Monday temporarily interconnected the adjacent, but normally unconnected, turning circles of Turkey Hill Road and Little Brook Lane. That arrangement provided a temporary alternate entrance-exit for residents living in the Turkey Hill Road area.

For a time, the water over Turkey Hill Road at the bridge was about 18 inches deep, he said.

The rainstorm resulted in “varying amounts of damage literally all over town,” he said.

“Dozens of roads had flooding on them,” he said. “Dozens and dozens [of roads] are going to need some type of repair,” he said.

It is simpler for the town to plan for the problems caused by snowstorms, he said, rather than for major rainstorms. 

When motorists drive on roads that are covered by more than one foot of water, they are asking for trouble, Mr Hurley said. Drivers do not necessarily know how deep the water is when they encounter a flooded road, he pointed out.

Mr Hurley listed some of the many flooding areas that occurred after the heavy rains early this week: Taunton Hill Road at Great Hill Road; West Street; Currituck Road between its intersections with Signal Post Road and Butterfield Road; Hanover Road at Echo Valley Road; Old Hawleyville Road; sections of Pond Brook Road; Sanford Road; Tamarack Road; Ox Hill Road; The Boulevard near the Advanced Fusion Systems building; Taunton Hill Road; Edmond Road; Castle Hill Road, Rock Ridge Road; Sugar Hill Road at Sugar Street; Cemetery Road; Mile Hill Road South; Boggs Hill Road; Old Bethel Road; Deep Brook Road; Town’s End Road; Putnam Drive; Palestine Road; Birch Hill Road; and Jordan Hill Road, among many others  

Also, a drainage culvert at Boggs Hill Road near its intersection with Sugar Street experienced washout conditions, resulting in physical damage that needed extensive repairs, he said.

The about ten miles of dirt roads that exist in town receive major damage when such heavy rains occur, Mr Hurley said. Those roads include Deep Brook Road, Head O’ Meadow Road, Jordan Hill Road, Ox Hill Road, Pond Brook Road, Sanford Road, Tamarack Road, Town’s End Road, and Zoar Road.

“At one point we had a list of 25 roads that were experiencing flooding, washouts, and the like,” said First Selectman Pat Llodra. “Some roads had to be closed to travel. There is some lasting damage, in terms of us having to do some unscheduled and unexpected repair and reconstruction.

“The sheer volume of cascading water in some areas has undermined roadbeds, eroded stream banks, washed out culverts. All of these areas will have to be attended to once the weather allows for the crews to get to that work,” Mrs Llodra said.

“There might be some state [and/or] federal aid forthcoming,” she added. “That depends on the level of documented damage in our town, as well in as the region.

“Many, many town workers and volunteers were called on to help us deal with the aftermath of the storm,” she added. “Many roads were under water. Washouts, bad potholing, and failed shoulders made travel problematic. In a few cases detours had to be established onto alternate roads that were themselves in very bad shape.”

A Winter To Remember

The first selectman added, “We certainly are being tested this winter season. I am confident that all town workers and our volunteers respond to situations with care and concern. These needs for service require an above-and-beyond willingness and capacity. I’m proud of our highway workers, our fire departments, [Newtown Underwater Search And Rescue], and all the other folks who lend a hand. They have served us well and I thank them.”

The last time that Newtown experienced such a deluge was during Hurricane Floyd in September 1999.

 “I am not aware of any injuries due to the storm,” she said.

“Evacuations were not needed, but the shelter was opened and available just in case. NUSAR was ready to provide help for persons inaccessible because of flooding. In a few cases, residents were taken in by friends and neighbors,” she added.

“The only public facility I know of that had some water issues is Hawley School,” Mrs Llodra said.

Hook & Ladder was dispatched to the Church Hill Road elementary school Monday morning after flooding in the basement was discovered. Firefighters were able to mitigate the water through a utility cover on the north side of the building. They were on the scene for nearly an hour, along with Deputy Fire Chief Richard Frampton who arrived a short time later to investigate.

Among their requests for pump detail, Sandy Hook Fire & Rescue was sent to a home on Old Green Road early Monday morning. Upon arrival, firefighters began to help the homeowner divert a large amount of water that was running into and through the home’s foundation.

When the water pulled too much debris away from the foundation of the home’s porch, however, a partial collapse was reported and the family was temporarily moved out of its home. A building inspector was expected to check the home and its foundation later in the morning.

Six Feet In The Basement

In Shady Rest, a number of homes had six feet and more of water in their basements. By mid-Monday morning, Sandy Hook Fire & Rescue had already helped a few homeowners in the area. Newtown Police sent personnel in to the area, planning to set up a command post, and the local dive team from NUSAR was also dispatched to the area with instructions to use their boat to make sure residents along the Housatonic were not in peril or trapped inside their homes.

Upon checking the homes along Housatonic Drive, however, firefighters confirmed that all residents were able to access the roads through their front doors if needed, and NUSAR returned to service without having to put personnel or equipment in service.

The basements of many homes in Shady Rest flooded on Monday, and homeowners could do nothing about it until the waters of the Housatonic crested and then began receding. Because of the location of the homes, so close to the river, there was nowhere to pump the water out to.

At one point on Tuesday, crews from Sandy Hook Fire were simultaneously pumping water out of three homes on Todd’s Road. A building inspector was also requested for one of the homes on that road.

Between 10 pm Sunday and 7 am Tuesday, fire companies responded to more than 110 storm-related calls, which were broken down as follows: Sandy Hook, 43; Hook & Ladder, 32; Dodgingtown, 16; Botsford, 12; and Hawleyville, 11. Newtown Police Department recorded 92 calls during the same time frame.

In addition to its Shady Rest call, NUSAR was dispatched to River Trail in Southbury early Monday morning to help some residents of that neighborhood safely evacuate their homes.

“I do not recall any similar period of [emergency] call volume. Others I ask, who have been around for a long time, say the same thing,” the first selectman said.

Maureen Will, a town deputy director of emergency management, also said she could not recall a period with so many calls for firefighters to pump out flooded basements.

Ms Will said that people who experienced flooding conditions early this week may well experience them again late this week when more heavy rainfall is expected.

In such cases, people should remove any valuable possessions from basement floors, should check for potential electrical hazards, and should get any sump pumps ready for use, she said. Flooding poses dangerous conditions for people, she said.

Stranded Residents

Elsewhere in town, the caretakers of Cullens Youth Association found themselves trapped in their home on Monday when the driveway that leads into the property suffered a sinkhole. At least a full car-length long, the water made access to the Taunton Lake Road property impassible.

“We have had flooding from our pond [on the property] before, during heavy rain. However, this time, the torrent is running down, not across the drive, making it totally impassible and stranding our caretaker and his family,” reported Cullens Youth Association Board Member Tim Gagne.

The Newtown Fish & Game Club building at 100 Wasserman Way was also inaccessible on Monday. The Pootatuck River went well over its banks along the property, covering at least 250 feet of driveway and much of the land surrounding the club building.

A large section of Lakeview Terrace was washed out due to the storm, with one resident stranded behind a section of road that was turned into a deep crater. A giant washout gully, which measured 75 feet long, five feet wide, and five feet deep, opened up in the roadway, according to Fred Hurley. The gully opened up near the end of that dead-end street.

By late Monday afternoon, Public Works crews had dumped a number of dump truck loads of fill into the crevice and by early evening a load of process was put down on top of the fill, creating a passable road once again.

“Those guys did a phenomenal job,” said Kim Sharpe, who was unable to leave her property on Monday.

The washout on Lakeview Terrace occurred in front of a neighbor’s house, “in front of their carport, where they had two cars and their boat, so those were stuck, but they had one vehicle on the other side of the hole that was able to get out.

“I was the only person who got stuck because the two other houses on my side of the [washed out road] are summer only residents, so they weren’t here,” Ms Sharpe explained.

Ms Sharpe was very happy with the job done by Public Works Monday night.

“They were just amazing,” she said Tuesday morning. “There were fast, they were efficient. They even came back this morning to check on how it was doing. It’s perfect.”

As the rain continued and the Housatonic continued its strong run on Monday, Ms Sharpe watched as items owned by fellow waterfront property owners floated past her house.

“I must have seen at least 15 docks go by, and at least 20 kayaks,” she said. On Tuesday she and a cousin were able to catch some of the smaller items that had been swept away from their homes.

“This morning I rescued another kayak. We’ve been rescuing anything we can get close to,” said Ms Sharpe. “Any time anything comes close to shore, I can wade out somewhat into the water. You can’t just stand by and let a $1,000 kayak just go by. Not when you can save it.”

Many other items, however, were not as lucky. A number of docks and boats that had been swept away on Monday found their way into Monroe, where they became stuck in ice floes. Too far out to reach from shore, boats and docks were tangled up with large chunks of ice in the vicinity of The Waterview, the reception hall/banquet facility in Monroe about three-quarters of a mile northwest of Stevenson Dam.

The Riverside section of town, not surprisingly, also dealt with flooding issues.

“This is the second highest waterfront level I have seen on Lake Zoar, in 45 years,” said longtime Underhill Road resident Jane Sharpe. “Our neighbors, who seasonally move their boats, docks, and furniture to high ground, were still taken by surprise. Early this morning my husband and I saw several kayaks, a rowboat, and a dock, moving downstream.”

One of Mrs Sharpe’s neighbors, Gary Fillion, was spotted on Monday using his paddleboat to save waterfront storage chests that had begun to float away.

Another neighbor, Dean Fattibene, launched a small boat to rescue his dock.

“He found the dock and moored it where it was found. He also actually pulled in ten, count them, ten, kayaks!” said Mrs Sharpe. “He brought two back and moored them for people to find. He tied up the other eight and can tell anyone who is missing a kayak where it is.”

Drinking Water & Other Concerns

United Water Company (UWC) was in regular communication with Newtown Health District and the state Department of Public Health. UWC customers received a message late Monday morning regarding UWC’s limited pumping and a request to conserve water due to the recent flooding.

“UWC will be increasing monitoring and chlorination as a precautionary measure, which may [or may not] be noticeable to the consumer,” said Health District Director Donna Culbert. “An additional notification will be going out to customers.

“We are assured,” she continued, “that our water will continue to meet or exceed all safe drinking water standards.”

The storm also caused some power outages, and a few homes in town had their electricity turned off as a precaution until CL&P crews could arrive on the scene.

Newtown Parks & Rec officials closed Dickinson Memorial Park, until further notice, due to flooding. The usually quiet stream that meanders through the Elm Drive recreation complex had gone well over its banks, with flooding reaching as far as the Funspace and tennis courts to the west of the playground. The water caused the root system of a large tree along the stream to fail, allowing the tree to fall onto and damage some of the park’s picnic tables being stored for the season.

More On The Way

Meanwhile, residents can expect at least a few more days of wet weather. As The Newtown Bee went to press Thursday morning, a new Flood Watch was issued effective 10 am March 10 through at least the afternoon of Friday, March 11. The watch covered Fairfield and New Haven Counties, with rainfall amounts of two to three inches possible.

According to a NWS statement: “Due to the recent heavy rainfall ... many rivers and streams are at high levels. This combined with saturated soil will result in high runoff rates with the potential for moderate to major flooding. This is a potentially dangerous situation.”