Date: Fri 19-Apr-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDREA

Quick Words:

weather-April-downpours

Full Text:

April Showers Become April Downpours

If it were the first of April one would think Mother Nature was playing a bad

joke on us. But cloudy skies dumped five inches of snow in the region last

week followed by 2.77 inches of rain this week, leaving emergency volunteers

and town employees scrambling.

When Hook & Ladder responded to pumping detail at Town Hall South on Tuesday

morning, emergency workers found employees ankle deep in water.

So out came the water vacuums and mops to suck up and sop up the puddles that

form in the land use offices on the building's lower level.

A large chrome water vacuum sat in the doorway to the zoning and planning

records vault. A puddle stood between the vacuum and the racks which hold

hundreds of paper maps and plans stored for public reference.

Chairs were turned upside down on a conference table to get them off the

floor.

Groundwater which has accumulated in the soil poured into the building through

cracks in a masonry wall in the planning and zoning office, causing the yellow

paint on the wall's interior surface to buckle. Just above the buckling paint,

colorful, large land use maps are displayed for public reference.

Rainwater which worked its way in through a window frame puddled on the floor,

resulting in a number of floor tiles coming up when a vacuum was used to suck

up the water.

Ronald Bolmer, the town engineer who serves as supervisor for the town's

planning, zoning and conservation offices, said Wednesday the town is working

to resolve the water problems in Town Hall South.

Funds to stop the water problem as well as to renovate Town Hall South have

been included in the town budget proposed for the 1996-97 fiscal year. The

selectmen are seeking public approval to spend roughly $800,000 for Town Hall

South improvements. The budget proposal is scheduled for a vote Tuesday at a

referendum.

First Selectman Bob Cascella said he has told the Planning & Zoning Department

staff they can move their desks and phones across the hall into the

Conservation Department.

Pumping Details

Hook & Ladder was also called Tuesday morning to pump out areas of Church Hill

Road, and later that day, a residence on Mountain Laurel Lane, Sandy Hook.

Wires were downed on Berkshire Road on April 11 and High Bridge Road on 14;

the calls were answered by Sandy Hook and Botsford, respectively.

There were no weather-related power outages between April 11 and 17, according

to Margo Jackson-Douglas of Northeast Utilities. "It's been very quiet," she

said.

The forecast for the next few days will bring warm weather with high

temperatures reaching at least 65 degrees. But a cold front is slowly moving

in to bring precipitation to the area on Saturday.

"There's nothing in the forecast that is really dramatic," said Darren

Southard, forecaster at the WestConn Weather Center. "Rain on Saturday... I

don't think there is going to be any more snow at all - there's nothing in the

forecast.

"But things could change," he added with a laugh. "The absolute latest date

for heavy snow during modern times was on May 9, 1977."