Connecticut sees ‘two months’ worth of rain in 16-20 hours’
The still-strong remnants of Hurricane Ida dumped more than half a foot of rain across much of Connecticut on Wednesday into Thursday, killing state trooper Sgt. Brian Mohl, forcing water rescues, closing highways and leaving thousands without power.
Gov. Ned Lamont declared a state of emergency just after noon, joining New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania in opening the states to federal aid to clean up the historic, deadly flooding seen across the entire region.
“The filing of this declaration will help provide state and local emergency management officials with the necessary tools to aid the impacted areas in safely recovering from this record-breaking rainfall that we received overnight,” Lamont said.
Mohl, a longtime Connecticut state trooper, was among those washed away by rising flood waters early Thursday morning and was killed.
Mohl was working as the midnight shift supervisor for Troop L in Litchfield overnight when he radioed at 3:30 a.m. to report his cruiser was caught in swift floodwater and that he needed help, Col. Stavros Mellekas said.
“He’s one of the senior sergeants on the state police, well respected,” Mellekas said. “It’s just a tragedy ... We’re just trying to help the family get through this difficult time, that’s what we’re worried about, and maintaining professionalism and serving the public.”
The trooper is one of at least 26 fatalities caused by the storm and severe flooding from Maryland up the coast to Connecticut, including a dozen in New York City, officials have said.
More flooding possible
Dozens of roads across the state, especially along the shoreline, remained impassable Thursday because they were either still covered with flood waters or were blocked by downed trees and power lines.
Almost 6,200 Eversource customers were left without power later in the afternoon, mostly across Fairfield County where the storm hit hardest, and down about two thirds from the height of the storm. Another 439 United Illuminating customers also were without power in the utility’s shoreline service area around Bridgeport and New Haven.
Flash flood warnings remained in effect through mid-afternoon Thursday across parts of Hartford, Tolland and Windham counties, according to the weather service. Flood warnings also will remain in effect through Saturday evening for most of the state as rivers approach moderate flood stage, such as the Farmington River in central Connecticut, or already have reached, such as Housatonic River in Monroe, according to the service.
Rising rivers may even trigger evacuations of some homes and businesses especially close to those waterways, such as the lowest-lying areas in Avon and Simsbury, the weather service warned.
“At 15 feet, moderate flooding begins with numerous roads and residences affected,” forecasters said. “Evacuations may be needed along various roads in Avon and Simsbury, including Riverside Road in Simsbury. Flooding also begins to affect low lying sections of Bloomfield and East Granby.”
Most of the state saw about six inches of rain over the course of just a few hours overnight but some towns saw dramatically more, including 8.72 inches in Seymour and 8.58 inches in the Uncasville section of Montville, said Gary Lessor, chief meteorologist with Western Connecticut State University’s Connecticut Weather Center.
“Two months’ worth of rain in 16-20 hours,” Lessor said. “Copious downpours.”
The severe impacts of that much rain forced some towns and universities to cancel in-person classes Thursday, issue delayed starts or move in-person college lectures at Uconn and Yale to online formats.
Rail service was suspended completely on Metro North, Shore Line East and Ctrail Hartford line tracks across Connecticut and Connecticut Transit warned localized flooding was expected to cause disruptions in cities throughout the state.
Local impacts
Officials across the state warned drivers not to travel through flooded streets, even though the rain had stopped, because of the dangers of how deep and swift some of the water may be.
An alert that jolted cellphones shortly before 7:30 a.m. Thursday warned: “This is a dangerous and life-threatening situation. Do not attempt to travel unless you are fleeing an area subject to flooding or under an evacuation order.”
In Bristol, the Pequabuck River and Copper Mine Brook overflowed, forcing firefighters to evacuate a small condo complex on East Main Street and rescue motorists who got stuck on water-filled streets, Mayor Ellen Zoppo-sassu said.
Twenty-eight condominium residents were taken to the Plainville Fire Department, she said. East Main Street, which is parallel to the Pequabuck, is near the Plainville line. She doesn’t know of any injuries.
“We had, at about 1:30 [a.m.], probably about a dozen roads blocked off. We are down to about three,” Zoppo-sassu said shortly after 7:30 a.m. Still, she said anyone who needs to drive should be careful.
“They need to proceed with caution,” the mayor said. “The water is deeper than it looks.”
Crews in Manchester worked throughout Thursday morning to channel a swelling Bigelow Brook away from Charter Oak Park, but officials reported flood waters had receded and some roads that had flooded overnight were passable again.
Bristol recoded 5.91 inches of rain and Manchester had 5.36 inches, WCSU’S Lessor said.
Sixty streets in Bridgeport flooded extensively and first responders there conducted 20 water rescues and another 45 vehicles stranded and submerged in high water, city officials said.
Hartford’s most floodprone areas suffered during the heavy rainfalls overnight but most of the water had receded by midday Thursday and roads were reopened they cleared, officials said.
“Could have been much worse,” Mayor Luke Bronin said early Thursday after reviewing the damage.
In Fairfield, police Chief Robert Kalamaras said officers responded to four calls of flooding, 30 vehicles towed because of flooding road conditions, 13 road hazards and two car crashes in just 11 hours overnight. Officials in Westport responded to roughly the same number of incidents in their town, including people trapped in their vehicles as waters rose, flooding homes, transformer explosions and burning utility poles, city leaders said.
Dozens of state roads remained impassable around lunchtime across the state, including Route 7 in New Milford, Route 44 in East Hartford and multiple closures along flooded parts of Route 82 in East Haddam, according to the state Department of Transportation.
The storm prompted the National Weather Service to issue its first-ever flash flood emergency for Fairfield and New Haven counties on Wednesday and even set off several tornado warnings as the storm pounded the entire region overnight, causing historic flooding throughout New York City and the tri-state area.
Ida killed about 30 people and left more than a million without power since it made landfall in Louisiana as a Category 2 hurricane Sunday. More than 20 died in the Northeast, where its remnants spawned tornadoes in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and flooded New York City subways.