Heavy rains flood area roads, close schools
The remnants of Hurricane Ida pelted the region with heavy rain overnight Wednesday into Thursday, dropping more than half a foot of rain in some areas and causing widespread flooding.
Schools across southeastern Connecticut were closed Thursday, including East Lyme, Lyme-Old Lyme, Norwich, Montville and Norwich Free Academy, while other districts, including Groton and Colchester, had two-hour delays.
The amount of rain dropped on southeastern Connecticut overnight was severe and unusual, according to National Weather Service's James Tomasini. Some areas saw 3 to 4 inches of rainfall per hour — a rate he called "extremely high."
The National Weather Service advised people to avoid walking near riverbanks and to turn around if driving toward a flooded road.
"This is pretty out of the ordinary," Tomasini said. "We had the remnants of Hurricane Ida track north from where it made landfall in Louisiana and make contact with a frontal boundary, which allowed it to create a very, very high rainfall rate."
In the region, Norwich was hit the hardest by heavy rainfall, with nearly 7.5 inches of rain measured in the city, according to the National Weather Service. East Lyme followed with 7.36 inches of rainfall overnight. New London saw 5.72 inches of rain overnight, while 3.64 inches were measured near the Groton Airport, according to the National Weather Service.
Gov. Ned Lamont signed a declaration of civil preparedness emergency in response to the widespread flood damage.
“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,” he said in the announcement.
Eversource was reporting that more than 14,000 customers were without power across the state. As of 9 a.m. Thursday, there were 365 outages in East Lyme; 33 in Old Lyme; 13 in Lyme; 67 in Waterford; 28 in Groton; 22 in New London and 13 in Lyme.
As of about 7:45 p.m. Thursday, Eversource reported 3,246 customers remained without power in Connecticut. There were 252 outages in East Lyme; no outages in Old Lyme; 11 outages in Lyme; fewer than two outages in Waterford; no outages in Groton; and fewer than two outages in New London.
Several roads were closed in Waterford on Thursday morning, including Route 85 at the Interstate 95 overpass, Gardeners Wood Road and Old Colchester Road at Interstate 395. Hunts Brook in Quaker Hill had flooded Old Norwich Road early Thursday and was continuing to rise.
Shortly before 8 p.m. Thursday, barriers remained set up at Old Norwich Road, Old Colchester Road and Wintergreen Drive, Waterford police said. Bloomingdale Road at Old Mill Road also closed. There was no estimate as to when they would reopen.
The flood-prone Yantic River crested at 11.7 feet, about 1 foot lower than projected, but still above major flood stage. Norwich officials reported numerous flood and storm issues Thursday morning, with several roads closed due to flooding along the river and numerous basements flooded.
By early afternoon, the river had receded to 10 feet, and all roads along the Yantic had reopened. Only the portion of Mohegan Park Road near Mohegan Commons Apartments remained closed, due to flooding from Spaulding Brook, Norwich fire Chief and Emergency Management Director Tracy Montoya said.
Three apartments in Mohegan Commons were flooded and uninhabitable, Montoya said, displacing a total of three adults and seven children. The families went to the Rose City Senior Center emergency shelter awaiting word on whether they could move into other units in the complex or would need city assistance to be relocated, he said.
The 36 occupants at the Comfort Inn and Suites on Otrobando Avenue were evacuated after the hotel was inundated with more than 5 feet of water in the basement, Montoya said. Numerous homes throughout the city also had flooded basements that required power to be shut off for safety, he said.
Montoya cautioned people not to walk through standing water in the basement if the power is still on at the house and urged people not to drive through flooded streets.
NPU reported few scattered power outages, one on Dunham Street caused by a transformer malfunction and one on Knollcrest Road, where 27 people lost power after a tree felled power lines, LaRose said.
Several roads, including West Town Street near the Interstate 395 Exit 14 ramps, were closed, along with sections of Sturtevant and Pleasant streets and Sholes Avenue were closed Thursday morning due to Yantic River flooding. Portions of the Backus Hospital parking lot also were flooded.
City police said Thursday night that all roads in Norwich had been reopened.
Building Official Dan Coley and Assistant Building Official Chris Case conducted a drone tour of the Yantic River on Thursday morning from Norwich Harbor to the Yantic Fire Engine Co., where low-lying Fireman’s Field along the river was flooded. Coley said they were looking for debris and problem spots along the riverbanks.
The Sherman Street Bridge at Asylum Street was closed, with Yantic River water and debris gushing against Norwich Public Utilities’ natural gas, water and sewer lines that hang beneath the bridge. NPU crews were stationed at the bridge monitoring conditions in case of damage to the pipes, NPU General Manager Chris LaRose said.
LaRose said gas and water leaks could be detected immediately through drops in pressure, while sewer pipe damage would be less evident. The bridge has been a flooding trouble spot for decades, and the city is on the verge of a major construction project to replace it with a wider bridge 18 inches higher above the river.
The raging Yantic River brought sightseers to the Yantic Falls gorge at Uncas Leap and the Upper Falls Heritage Park nearby. Some said they saw the river last weekend, when it was barely a trickle at the two dams.
“The power of the river,” one man said.
Shori and Speros Velles of Franklin took the opportunity to visit the Uncas Leap area to work on Shori’s photography skills. She especially is interested in shooting waterfalls.
“I’m new at it,” she said. “I mainly do wildlife photos. I decided to start taking waterfalls.”
The National Weather Service was predicting sunny skies with highs in the low to mid-70s for the rest of Thursday, Friday and through the weekend. The next chance of rain will be Sunday afternoon, when the region could see thunderstorms and rain showers, Tomasini said.
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