Plenty Of Work To Do

After Flood Waters Recede

By Donna Tommelleo Associated Press

HARTFORD — Camping out wasn’t exactly what Jack and Kathy Koolis bargained for this weekend.

But the Southington couple had little choice when rising flood waters from the Pomperaug River drove them from their home to their camper parked in the driveway. Along with their dogs, the couple rode out the record nor’easter that dumped up to eight inches of rain in parts of the state. They knew by morning, though, their work had just begun.

Like thousands of others in Connecticut, the Koolises began the process of mopping up and drying out.

“What are you going to do?” Jack Koolis told the Republican-American. “My wife didn’t get hurt. The dogs are OK. The cat’s in the house sleeping on the bunk bed. It’ll be OK.”

Governor M. Jodi Rell toured several hard-hit areas of Connecticut Monday. The heavy rain had stopped by early afternoon but flooding remained a concern. The forecast called for remnants of the stubborn storm to linger through Thursday.

Roads across the state were closed because they were covered in water and motorists were warned against trying to cross if they couldn’t determine the depth. Shelters opened in several cities and towns to house small groups of residents evacuated from their neighborhoods.

“I’ve learned more about weather in the last 48 hours. I could do the weather for you this afternoon,” Rell said at a trailer park next to a swollen tributary of the Quinnipiac River in Wallingford. “We’ve seen more water than you’ve ever seen.”

Rell, who also visited Shelton and Danbury, said the Connecticut National Guard has lent amphibious vehicles to help with cleanup and rescue efforts in Westport, Stamford, and Stratford, all in the hard-hit southwestern part of the state.

Norman St Onge, 77, a retired US Navy serviceman, said he moved a week ago to the Wallingford trailer park, where residents were worried because the tributary had risen from its normal three feet to 12 feet Monday afternoon.

“We moved out of Florida to get away from hurricanes and we came back to floods,” St Onge told Rell. “I can’t win.”

There was, he said, one advantage to the storm: “It doesn’t blow your house away.”

Residents were given two extra days to pay their state income tax. State income tax returns were due by midnight Thursday instead of midnight Tuesday.

Rell said she has asked federal emergency management officials for money to help municipalities pay for flood cleanup efforts and help residents repair flood-damaged homes.

In Winsted, flooding problems forced a Department of Motor Vehicles office to remain closed until Thursday.

Tens of thousands of customers were left without power for much of the day — more than 40,000 outages were reported by Connecticut Light & Power at the peak early Monday. Utility crews worked throughout the day and into the night restoring electricity to most of those affected.

In eastern Connecticut, high winds and downed trees and wires were reported in many locations Sunday. In western Connecticut, residents living in or around the Danbury, Wilton, Ridgefield, and Redding areas found Route 7 closed in many locations, according to Rell’s office.

Metro North rail service in Danbury was canceled Monday morning due to a flooded station and flooded rail lines.

One person died in an accident on the Merritt Parkway in Stratford Sunday. State emergency management officials say water on the road was a factor.

The American Red Cross opened shelters in Greenwich, where more than 100 people were evacuated, and Danbury, where another 50 people showed up to eat and dry off, officials said.

In the western section of Greenwich, the water rose so fast and so high Sunday evening that emergency responders had to put four boats into the water and bring in bucket trucks and high-clearance vehicles to get to residents who couldn’t walk out their doors because the water level was so high.

Marie Rolla had a harrowing experience when her car stalled in massive puddle caused by the overflowing Bryam River on a Greenwich street. She screamed for help and a neighbor spotted her headlights. A firefighter carried the 76-year-old woman to safety.

“I never want to go through this again, “ she told the Greenwich Time. “Those firefighters ... were very, very wonderful because they physically carried me on their backs.”

A grateful Rolla said she sang “Singin’ in the Rain” to the firefighter who carried her to dry land.

(Associated Press Writer Stephen Singer in Wallingford contributed to this report. )