The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
‘IT WAS SO, SO MUCH RAIN’
Town estimates $290,000 in damages from remnants of Ida
ESSEX — The remnants of Hurricane Ida caused some $290,000 in flood damages in town, according to a preliminary assessment.
After two weeks of cleanup from the Sept. 2 storm, the town gathered information on damages to town property, individual property and businesses to ultimately pass along to FEMA.
Two days after backhoes and shovels finally cleared debris, two feet deep on flooded roads, the town was finalizing its figures. The damage to town
property was estimated to be about $47,000, the personal loss at $48,000, and business damages, $195,000.
Ida pummeled the town with up to 9 inches of precipitation in six hours, over a month’s worth of rain, the National Weather Service reported.
The damage numbers will be sent to the state Division of Emergency Management, which is collecting information from every town and county on the effects of Ida, with a deadline of Sept. 16. These figures will then be forwarded to FEMA once the state reaches its threshold of $5.5 million in damages to qualify for federal funds.
In Essex, the 100-yearstorm wiped out a historic ball field, collapsed Heron Road, and left mud and muck two feet deep on other flooded streets. Gravel from driveways traveled some 100 feet down roads, according to the Public Works Director Ryan Welch.
And that wasn’t all. Rainswollen streams and ponds overflowed into many residents’ basements and businesses.
The venerable Ivoryton Playhouse’s basement was waterlogged as well. With walls torn down to prevent mold in the kitchen area in the basement, the old theater is still putting on shows while trying to meet equity rules.
It was the tributaries, small streams and ponds that flooded quickly, as there was nowhere for the
water to go, said Lisa Fasulo, the town’s emergency manager.
Middlesex County must meet the threshold of $644,480 in damages to be include in the state’s report. More county minimums can be found on the state emergency management website.
Deep River is also asking its residents and businesses to complete a damage survey, and the town of Madison may do one as well, according to First Selectman Peggy Lyons.
Meanwhile, the state department of emergency management is still gathering and processing information from tropical storm Henri, which swept through two weeks before Ida. Many Shoreline towns missed the brunt of that storm.
But no such luck with Ida, which surprised Essex officials with its fast and furious rainfall — the town was deluged by 7 to 9 inches of rain in just a six-hour period.
“It was so, so much rain in such a short amount of time,” Fasulo said about Ida. “A lot of streets were flooded over and impassable. We had one road that collapsed and partially washed away.
“Many, many residents had flooding in their basements,” she said, and it didn’t matter whether they lived near water or not, in some cases. Homes near streams were naturally vulnerable, but others were flooded by “water running in the streets,” and even those houses built on higher ground were not safe from the water, she added.
“There were a lot of people who never had water in their basements. They were shocked the water could get that high,” Faluso said.
Home on the Falls River were especially at risk of flooding. It “was pretty good and raging — that was coming across the roadway and into basements along the river,” Faluso said. The Mud River also overflowed its banks.
Falls River Road, Bokum Road and Heron Road were hit heaviest by the storm. Heron Road, originally built for a 25-year storm, will now be repaired to withstand a 100-year event with a new concrete head wall.
Fortunately, the four dams in town, all privately owned, were not breached by storm waters. All the dams are are monitored by the state DEEP.
“None of us slept at all the night of the storm, because we were really worried about the dams,” Fasulo said.
The Comstock ball field
was a total loss, according to Mary Ellen Barnes of the Park and Recreation Department. A small stream had breached its bank and “basically wiped out the Little League Field,” she said. It also damaged the Babe Ruth Field, parking area and driveway.
Calling Comstock field the signature park of the town, Barnes noted that the historic field will have to be completely rebuilt. “They played baseball on that over 100 years ago,” she said.
And while Ida left a mess, it was not as bad as the “benchmark” flood of 1982, which actually lifted and moved homes off their foundations after a 30-foothigh dam upstream in Deep River was breached, Faluso said.
As it is still hurricane season, she suggested people should stay prepared.
“I’m hoping people will have their flashlights and batteries they didn’t use — just to have ready for the next storm,” Barnes added.