‘CT officials say it will be ‘a long recovery’ from weekend flooding’ | CT Mirror

Story from the CT Mirror:

Connecticut officials said several small towns were severely damaged by torrential rains that hit the southwestern part of the state on Sunday, swamping homes, overtaking roadways and killing two people who were swept away by a raging torrent of water.

Gov. Ned Lamont and members of his administration said the floodwaters were receding on Monday, but the damage caused by the downpours that lasted for more than a day, they said, could take weeks or months to fully recover from.

Hundreds of state employees were busy Monday assessing the region’s public and private dams, providing support to local emergency management officials and inspecting state roadways, 27 of which were closed due to undercut pavement or damaged bridges.

“It’s going to be a long recovery,” said Garrett Eucalitto, the commissioner of the state Department of Transportation.

The region around Newtown, Seymour and Middlebury received up to 10 inches of rain over a 24 hour period, according to rainfall totals from the National Weather Service.

The substantial rainfall caused numerous waterways in the region to overtake their banks, with several rivers reaching near-historic levels, according to federal data.

Lamont said his administration already requested a disaster declaration from the federal government, which is a necessary step in obtaining federal relief from the U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said he and the rest of Connecticut’s congressional delegation would fight to ensure that this weekend’s flooding was recognized as a federal disaster. And he said it was the federal government’s “obligation” to do so.

“We will seek federal help. They are entitled to it. These communities have suffered,” said Blumenthal, who spent Monday morning talking to people at flooded businesses in Seymour.

Blumenthal, Lamont and several local legislators all gathered in the small town of Oxford for a press conference after assessing the damage left behind by what one state official referred to as “unprecedented flooding.”

Oxford was one of the hardest hit municipalities in the region and was where two women died after they were swept away Sunday evening as firefighters tried to rescue them from their vehicles, which were overtaken by floodwaters.

“Oxford got sucker-punched yesterday and taken out at the knees,” said State Sen. Eric Berthel, who represents the region in the legislature.

“Our infrastructure is broken. Our main highway that runs through this town is broken. We have lost life. We have lost businesses,” Berthel added. “And we will need the full strength of the local, state and federal government to fix this beautiful town and to get it back running in the right direction again.”

Oxford’s First Selectman, George Temple, said the floodwaters from the Little River inundated the town quickly and ultimately trapped several people in their vehicles.

“It just came upon us like lightning,” he said.

Lamont and members of his administration emphasized that heavy rain events, like the one experienced over the weekend, are becoming more common as the atmosphere continues to warm.

Scientific research shows that the warmer the atmosphere becomes the more water vapor it can hold, which can increase the likelihood of heavy rainfalls. Some scientists have coined the term “rain bomb” to describe such events.

The increased likelihood of such weather events is why Connecticut needs to plan properly for the future, said Katie Dykes, the Commissioner of the Department of Energy & Environmental Protection.

At the press conference, Dykes promoted recent funding that has helped local municipalities in Connecticut to plan for how to adapt to the changing climate. And she emphasized there would soon be another $75 million available through her agency’s Climate Resilience Fund, which helps towns and cities plan for needed infrastructure upgrades.

Those funds, Lamont said, should help to protect homes, businesses, state infrastructure and lives during future storms.

“I can’t tell you this will never happen again,” Lamont said. “I can tell you that we are going to make it less frequent and make sure it’s less severe.”