Tornado, Flooding, Traffic Challenged Newtown In 2007

By Andrew Gorosko

In 2007, Newtown experienced a rare tornado that struck the town in May, following springtime flooding that caused extensive water damage in April.

A National Weather Service (NWS) analysis of damage caused by the intense storm that struck the area on May 16 found that a tornado skipped across the Newtown landscape. A cluster of storms that entered the area late that afternoon produced a four-to-five-mile path of damage in the Newtown/Bethel area that averaged about 100 yards in width.

“This area of damage was determined related to winds of a tornadic nature. Based on evaluation of the damage to trees and structures, the tornado is classified as an EF-1 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale,” according to the weather service. An EF-1 tornado carries winds ranging from 86 to 110 miles per hour. Such storms are capable of severely stripping roofs of their shingles, overturning or badly damaging mobile homes, ripping off structures’ exterior doors, and breaking windows.

The tornado that struck Newtown and Bethel was generated by a cluster of storms that had earlier hit Redding and Ridgefield.

The severe storm caused widespread damage, cutting power to almost 70 percent of local electric customers. Numerous fallen trees brought down utility lines and blocked dozens of local roads during the evening rush, creating extensive travel delays throughout town.

The NWS characterized the storm as a “bouncing tornado” that sporadically would touch down onto the ground and then lift up into the clouds as it traveled through town, causing varying amounts of damage along its course.

Areas hard hit by the storm included Rock Ridge Road, Key Rock Road, Drummers Lane, Shepard Hill Road, Boggs Hill Road, Bentagrass Lane, Park Lane, Cedar Hill Road, South Main Street, Meadow Woods Lane, Toddy Hill Road, Sugarloaf Road, and Johnny Appleseed Drive.

Connecticut Light & Power Company (CL&P) repair crews spent several days restoring electricity to local customers. At the height of the outages, there were 7,348 local CL&P customers without power. The electric utility has about 10,800 local customers.

In April, an intense nor’easter, which dropped between five and eight inches of rain on the area, prompted the town to declare a flood emergency, resulting in activation of the town’s emergency operations plan.

The town’s Code Red emergency notification system placed thousands of automated recorded telephone calls to residents, alerting them that an emergency shelter would be available, and that a number of local roads had been closed due to flooding.

The volume of fire calls that occurred due to the storm was the highest number of calls stemming from a single incident in years. Most of those callers requested firefighters’ aid in pumping out flooded basements.

The mid-April storm produced the heaviest rainfall in the area since Tropical Storm Floyd in 1999.

Traffic

Although not as dramatic as a tornado or widespread flooding, traffic woes in the town center, especially along the mile-long Queen Street corridor, drew much public attention through 2007.

In July, the Police Commission, which is the local traffic authority, made recommendations to the Board of Selectmen concerning the Queen Street Area Traffic Improvement Plan.

A traffic consulting firm, Stantec, Inc, created a 29-page traffic planning study for the town on how traffic flow and motorist/pedestrian safety could be improved in the town center.

In the plan, Stantec makes 40 recommendations addressing existing traffic/pedestrian problems on Queen Street, Glover Avenue, Church Hill Road (Route 6), Main Street (Route 25), Mile Hill Road (Route 860), and Commerce Road.

Also in the realm of traffic control, in October, in response to continuing public calls for heightened traffic law enforcement, the Police Commission endorsed a planning document explaining how the police will work to enforce traffic laws, with the overall goal of improved traffic safety. The traffic enforcement plan’s main goals are to reduce the number and severity of traffic accidents, cut traffic congestion, reduce aggressive driving, and control speeding.

Until it can be formally started next spring, the police department has created a provisional traffic enforcement squad whose job will be enforcing specific traffic violations throughout town.

Additionally, Newtown police are participating with Bethel and Redding police in a tri-town traffic enforcement squad, whose members visit each of the three towns on a rotating basis to address specific traffic enforcement issues.

Digging For Clues

In November, state police reported that they have made “significant progress” in their investigation into the 1984 disappearance and presumed homicide of a Sherman woman, based on their excavation of a residential backyard on Farrell Road in Hawleyville.

State police spokesman Lieutenant J. Paul Vance has said that during the course of their excavation in the backyard at 15 Farrell Road, which began on the week of September 17, state police uncovered several automobiles that had been buried there. The lieutenant declined to describe the specific evidence that state police found that may prove useful in their investigation into Mary Badaracco’s disappearance.

Armed with a search warrant, state police detectives had directed state workers to remove an estimated 500 cubic yards of sandy soil from the backyard in seeking investigatory clues. They spent several weeks at the site. Lt Vance has said that state police did not find Ms Badaracco’s corpse or body parts during the excavation.

The current residents of the home on the property are not subjects of the investigation, according to state police. State police restored the physical condition Farrell Road backyard after its excavation, Lt Vance said.

Investigators have spoken with a number of witnesses in the case who have provided them with useful information, according to the lieutenant.

Ms Badaracco has been missing since August 1984 and is believed to be a homicide victim. She was last seen at her Sherman home, according to state police. The woman’s date of birth is March 11, 1946, so she was 38 when she was reported missing. A $50,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for Ms Badaracco’s disappearance and/or homicide.

 

Court Cases

Pending in Danbury Superior Court are criminal felony charges against the two former owners of the now-defunct Newtown Oil Company.

Those charges stem from the oil company’s failure to provide fuel to customers who had signed prepaid fuel purchase contracts for #2 heating fuel for the 2002-03 heating season.

The defendants are William A. Trudeau, Jr, 44, and his wife Heather Bliss, 32, of Westport.

In September, both defendants pleaded Not Guilty to each of the 12 felony charges pending against each of them. Both have elected to have jury trials of their cases. Each person is free on $100,000 bail.

In August, police arrested Mr Trudeau and Ms Bliss in connection with an alleged scheme that police charge effectively bilked oil company customers out of more than $400,000 for home heating fuel that the customers never received after signing prepaid fuel purchase contracts for the 2002-03 heating season.

The charges against each defendant are racketeering, three counts of first-degree larceny, one count of second-degree larceny, four counts of second-degree larceny of a victim over 60 years old, plus three counts of criminal conspiracy involving: racketeering, first-degree larceny, and second-degree larceny. The racketeering charges fall under the state’s Corrupt Organization Racketeering Activity (CORA) law.

Police allege that the crimes occurred between April 1, 2002, and December 2, 2002.

In July, Jillian Gehrkens of Middlebury, who was then 28, was led from a Waterbury courtroom by several judicial marshals to a serve a nine-month prison term for her conviction on a second-degree sexual assault charge. The sentence stems from Ms Gehrkens’ illegal yearlong sexual relationship with an underage male Newtown High School student, while she formerly worked at the high school as a school guidance intern.

In 2005, Newtown police had learned of an ongoing sexual relationship between Ms Gehrkens and the unidentified underage victim, after which they began an investigation. Police obtained physical evidence for their case in the form of computer content, which was seized from the victim. Also, the victim provided police with testimony about his sexual relationship with Ms Gehrkens.

State law lists eight situations that constitute second-degree sexual assault. Ms Gehrkens pleaded guilty to the offense as it applies to school employees and students. In that situation, the offender is a school employee and the victim is a student where the offender works.

In Waterbury Superior Court on December 12, a state prosecutor added a murder charge to the criminal charges pending against a Newtown man, who in November in Waterbury allegedly brutally beat his estranged wife and her new boyfriend, killing the boyfriend.

Charges of murder, murder in the commission of a felony, first-degree assault resulting in serious physical injury, first-degree burglary with a deadly weapon, and violation of protective order are now pending against Nicholas Clark, 31, of Newtown.

The murder charge stems from the death of Erich Tabert, 26, who died on November 19, following Clark’s alleged November 17 pipe-wielding attack against him and against Clark’s estranged wife Christa, as the couple slept in the Waterbury house where Nicholas Clark formerly lived with his wife. The Clarks were in the process of getting a divorce. Christa Clark received serious injuries in the attack.

Initially, Waterbury police had charged Clark with first-degree assault for the attack on Tabert. Tabert died of blunt-force trauma head injuries, according to the medical examiner.

A probable cause hearing on the murder charge against Clark is scheduled for February.