Town sets up website to report flooding damage caused by the storm
GREENWICH — To help residents recoup losses from the damage caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida last week, the town has set up a special website that went live on Thursday.
Residents can upload information, including photos, at www.greenwichct.org/ida about the extent of their damages, First Selectman Fred Camillo said.
The town is working with the state to identify the extent of damage, according to the website. The Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security can use the information to determine whether FEMA thresholds are met and a disaster declaration is needed, the website says.
“FEMA is looking specifically for the number of households that had major structural damage or were destroyed,” the website says.
The goal is to meet the thresh
old for the Federal Federal Emergency Management Agency, Camillo said during Thursday’s Board of Selectmen meeting. He declared a state of emergency in Greenwich after the storm, which dumped nearly 8 inches of rain on parts of town and caused widespread flooding. Gov. Ned Lamont did the same declaration for Connecticut.
Camillo said he spoke to Lamont, a town resident, on Thursday and they were hopeful that President Joe Biden would soon declare a disaster for the storm for Connecticut, allowing money and other assistance from FEMA.
While damage was reported all over town, the Pemberwick region was particularly hard hit. The flooding problems were discussed by the Board of Selectmen and at the town’s Flood and Erosion Control Board meeting. Jim Michel, deputy commissioner of public works, confirmed that the Byram River saw 8 inches of rainfall in a ninehour period — with 4 inches of rain coming into the river in only one hour during the storm from Sept. 1 overnight into Sept. 2.
“That exceeds a 500-year storm,” Michel said. “The Byram River and the Pemberwick area got a significant amount of damage. … Our field staff is still cleaning up a lot of the debris. Street sweepers have been running many, many hours over the last week cleaning roads. Our crews have been cleaning out the ends of culverts.”
Even after a week, “we’re still finding spots where headwalls have been damaged and debris is caught at the end of these headwalls because it was such a flash flood event. It was picking stuff up and carrying it downstream,” he said of the damaged headwalls, which are the concrete structures built at the outlet of a drainpipe or culvert.
As more people report storm damage, the town will get “a real good feel for what we experienced and what the next steps will be for what can and should be done,” he said.
In addition to helping residents get short-term assistance, Camillo pledged to look at the long-term flood mitigation efforts that must be done.
“We are going to take a real hard look at the various parts of town, the ones that have been flooded over and over again and the ones that just got flooded this time,” he said. “It raises concerns when you see that much water.”
Funds could be used from the federal stimulus packages that offer COVID-19 relief, and there could be progress soon on a federal infrastructure bill. Camillo said he was in contact with U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-4th District, who is also a town resident, on the issue and said they were hoping to have information by mid-September.
“We’re going to have to use some of this money to address these problems,” Camillo said. “In each area of town, I can tell you it’s different. There may be different solutions. Not one of them is inexpensive, but I firmly believe it is our job to make sure that we mitigate these problems even if they are, like in Pemberwick, an 80- or 90-year problem. It’s our duty to do what we can do.”
Flooding issues
During Thursday’s Flood and Erosion Control Board meeting, Michel was asked about including projects in the town budget process for 2022-23. Michel said he hoped the Board of Estimate and Taxation would take another look at some of the mitigation projects that it has deferred in recent years.
“It will probably get a little bit more attention this year than it probably has in the past, and we’re going to try and push some of our projects forward as much as we can,” Michel said.
Michel also mentioned a study of the Byram River that has been approved by the Army Corps of Engineers but is awaiting funding from the federal government. He said the town remains in touch with federal officials on expediting the project.
DPW Commissioner Amy Siebert said the town was lucky that most of the flooding happened at low tide and that it could have been much worse if it had hit at high tide. Her office has fielded many calls asking whether the problems could be solved through dredging, she said.
“We need people to know that dredging, unless you’re really lowering the water surface elevation and creating storage, is not going to protect you,” Siebert said.
Camillo said he remembers flooding in town in 1972 and said his then home in Byram and his childhood home in Cos Cob were flooded in 2007.
“I know what it’s like to come down the stairs and see 4 or 5 feet of water and everything you saved and everything that meant a lot to you as well as well as hot water heaters and furnaces damaged,” he said.
The Flood and Erosion Control Board is next scheduled to meet Dec. 9, but an earlier meeting can be scheduled if needed.