Saturday storm brings flooding, power outages
Heavy rain and strong winds early Saturday led to power outages and extreme flooding in some areas, especially along the shoreline.
Flood watches had been issued for all of Connecticut as “excessive runoff may result in flooding of rivers, creeks, streams, and other low-lying and flood-prone locations,” the National Weather Service said. A wind advisory also was in effect for Litchfield County.
Several of Connecticut’s shoreline towns and cities were dealing with extensive flooding Saturday.
Milford Public Works Director Chris Saley said shortly after noon that some of the city’s roads near the coast were covered in up to three feet of water. The most affected areas were Milford Point Road, Seaview Avenue, New Haven Avenue and Old Gate Lane, according to Saley.
“It’s super high tide right now,” Saley said. “The roads are impassable.”
In Stamford, Weed Avenue and Cummings Park were both closed due to flooding, police spokesperson Sgt. Jeffrey Booth said Saturday afternoon. Parts of Cummings Park were completely underwater, police wrote on Facebook, and its gates would reopen once the water receded.
In Branford, meanwhile, every road along the shoreline had been shut down because of the storm, a police dispatcher said. But James Cosgrove, the town’s first selectman, described the flooding as “nothing major” and said it was typical for those areas during high tide.
Clinton’s shoreline also was flooded, according to a police dispatcher, who said Riverside Drive was closed between Harbor Parkway and Cedar Island Avenue, near the town’s marina.
Earlier Saturday, nearly a dozen roads in downtown Mystic were closed because of “significant flooding conditions,” Groton police wrote on Facebook. In an email around 1:30 p.m., Groton Police Chief Paul Gately said most of the roads were beginning to reopen as the waters receded.
“The public is urged to exercise caution when traveling as there may be debris and pools of water still present on area roadways,” Gately said. “Drive slowly and please stay alert for work crews.”
More than 500 people were power Saturday afternoon because of the storm, with the number rising and falling as crews remedied outages only to face new ones.
Eversource, the state’s largest electric utility, reported 554 outages as of about 2 p.m., down from nearly 800 earlier in the day but up from 500 only hours earlier. United Illuminating, which services the greater Bridgeport and New Haven areas, reported one outage affecting six customers in Shelton as of about 2 p.m.
In Norwich, officials told residents Friday night they should be prepared to evacuate their homes in the event the Yantic River, which passes through the city, begins to “flood excessively.”
“It is possible that the Yantic River could reach historic levels which could create a public safety emergency,” the city wrote on Facebook. “Norwich residents are urged to remain alert and aware in the hours ahead.”
Norwich authorities had ordered residents along the Yantic River to evacuate earlier this week after officials said a dam along the river in Bozrah failed. That order was rescinded later in the day.
On Saturday afternoon, Norwich Public Utilities, a city-owned utility company, said in a Facebook post that the dam had stabilized and the river had begun to recede. As of 1:30 p.m., the company had not reported any power outages from the storm.
According to the company’s post, the dam would be monitored by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection for the next 12 hours. “Residents living in the Yantic section of Norwich should continue to be alert and aware should there be any developments with this situation in the hours and days ahead,” the company stated.
A deep freeze is expected to follow Saturday’s storm, with temperatures plummeting into the 20s and 30s. Snow also is in the forecast, with a storm expected during the day Tuesday.