New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
IDA’S RAINY WRATH
Governor declares state of emergency after powerful storm slams state City sees a month of rain in one night: 4.54” vs. 4.03” in an average Sept.
NEW HAVEN — The remnants of Hurricane Ida brought more than a month’s worth of rain to New Haven in a night, but no injuries were reported from the storm, according to Emergency Management Director Rick Fontana.
The National Weather Service reported New Haven saw 4.54 inches of rainfall from Ida’s remnants.
The entire city was inundated with several inches of rain in a short period of time, Fontana said.
Portions of the city with large hills, such as the one on Prospect Street, became “like waterfalls gushing water” because of the rate and intensity of the deluge — something not seen during Superstorm Sandy or Tropical Storm Irene, he said.
Rain fell at a rate of about 3 inches per hour in parts of southern Connecticut during the storm, Fontana said.
“A rainfall rate of (3 inches) is considered a once-in-a-100-year event,” Fontana said, citing a white paper from the National Weather Service. “Just so much rain in a (two) hour span.”
At Yale, Karen Peart, director of university media relations for the university, said that as a result of Ida’s remnants, much of Yale’s central campus, including residential colleges that house most undergraduate students, lost power.
“A rainfall rate of (3 inches) is considered a once-in-a-100-year event. Just so much rain in a [two] hour span.”
New Haven Emergency Management Director Rick Fontana
“Several buildings across campus sustained water damage, including 13 of the 14 residential colleges. Much of this flooding occurred at basement level and did not impact student housing,” Peart said. “However, following a ceiling leak in Timothy Dwight College, a few affected students were relocated to temporary housing.”
Peart said classes continued to be held, “but faculty were asked to be accommodating of students who might have been affected by this situation, either in their ability to prepare for class or to arrive promptly.” Classes were in-person if possible, or, if normally held in building still waiting to be restored to power, convened over Zoom or rescheduled. No injuries among students have been reported because of the storm.
By Thursday afternoon, power had been restored to all residential colleges and most of the affected buildings on campus but four buildings at that point remained without power: Dunham Lab, Tsai City, Warner Hall and
Dow Hall, Peart said.
On Thursday morning, there were roughly 190 power outages in the city, Fontana said. As of 3:30 p.m., there were 6 customers without power in New Haven, according to United Illuminating.
Fontana said “many of the frequently flooded roadways were flooded” during the storm, while some “(v)ehicles drove through against many warnings and around barricades, only to be stuck and needed to be towed out.”
“Many low lying areas under bridges had individuals drive through and become stuck,” he said. “All self extricated themselves and cars remained disabled under water. Several inches of water also impacted Tweed
(New Haven Regional Airport).”
The New Haven Fire Department reported nearly 20 calls for water entering homes in the city, Fontana said, some of which involved three-plus feet of standing water.
No injuries were reported; the Fire Department still was in the process of pumping out water and aiding homeowners Thursday morning, he said. Parks and public works crews also were out dealing with downed trees, Fontana said.
Two city schools were dismissed early Thursday due to complications from the storm, according to Justin Harmon, director of marketing and communications for the New Haven Public Schools.
At the Engineering and Science University Magnet School, located on Boston Post Road in West Haven, a “heavy gas-like smell interrupted classes,” Harmon said, prompting evacuation and, out of an abundance of caution, early dismissal.
“Police and fire personnel responded to the ESUMS building and quickly determined the odor was not methane or natural gas. After inspecting the building and the ventilation system, they suspected that air from the drains in the laboratories had been forced out by water pressure caused by the heavy rain,” said Harmon. “It was expected that classes would resume (Friday).”
The New Haven Adult Continuing Education Center, located on Ella T. Grasso Boulevard, was closed because of flooding, Harmon said.
“Students attending classes at the off-campus classroom were dismissed early. The building is expected to be closed (Friday); however, off-campus classroom students will attend classes on the Riverside campus,” said Harmon.
Classes at the magnet school were expected to resume Friday, Harmon said.
The Pitkin Tunnel was closed Thursday at its intersection with State Street, Fontana said. At one point, it was flooded with “several feet” of standing water, but is later was drained, he said.
Across the state, more than 18,000 customers were without power Thursday morning after the remnants of Ida swept through.
In Hamden, Fire Chief Gary Merwade said on Twitter that the Mill River had overflowed its banks.
The reported rainfall exceeded what the area usually receives in August or September, according to the National Weather Service.
The NWS reported an average of 3.55 inches of rain fell on Tweed each August between 1991 and 2020. In those Septembers, an average of 4.03 inches fell, according to the NWS.
Most of the precipitation in New Haven — 3.97 inches — fell Wednesday before midnight, which now stands as the eighth-highest rainfall total the city has ever seen on a single date since record keeping began 73 years ago, according to the NWS.
The single-day rainfall record for New Haven of 5.24 inches was set during Hurricane Agnes in 1972.
Milford received the most rain in New Haven County during the storm, as 6.59 inches of precipitation fell. Hamden received 5.72 inches; Guilford got 5.55 inches; Branford received 4.38 inches.
In the area covered by the New York station of the National Weather Service, which includes New Haven County, Staten Island got the most rain, as it received 8.92 inches, officials said.
In Shelton, remnants of Hurricane Ida dumped several inches of rain and brought gusty winds, causing flooding and minor power outages — but officials say the city dodged significant damage.
Emergency Management Director Michael Maglione said there were some streets that were flooded overnight, and the Maples and Walnut Tree Road were still dealing with flooding on Thursday morning.
Maglione said officials were watching the Housatonic River, however, which is projected to crest at 17.5 feet — more than 6 feet more than flood stage — about noon.
At 10:20 a.m. Thursday, United Illuminating was reporting 20 residences in the community without power
“The fire department went out to on calls to pump out a few basements,” Maglione said, “but overall, we lucked out again.”
Maglione was referring to Tropical Storm Henri, which left little to no impact on the Shelton area.
Shelton Deputy Fire Chief Paul Wilson said the storm was “nasty, but we weren’t as busy as we thought we would have been.”