Tri-State Region Shocked as Severe Floods Take 2 Lives, Leave Trail of Destruction

Flooding caused by heavy rains is being blamed for the deaths of two women, major damage to roads and other infrastructure, and substantial residential and vehicle flooding over the weekend and Monday in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey.

Connecticut State Police reported that two women, in separate instances, were “swept away from their vehicles” by flood waters in the town of Oxford, Connecticut. Police said Ethelyn Joiner and Audrey Rostkowski were found deceased.

The National Weather Service (NWS) issued flash flood warnings for parts of New Haven, Fairfield, Litchfield, and Hartford counties in Connecticut and Suffolk County in New York.

The NWS and residents in the states have reported washed out roads, damaged bridges, mudslides, power outages and water rescue operations.

Connecticut Emergency

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont on Monday declared a state of emergency in response to the significant flooding that he said has caused extensive damage to roadways.

“The sudden and severe flooding has caused significant damage to infrastructure in the western portion of the state, resulting in evacuations, rescues, and more than two dozen road closures that we anticipate will need to be closed for an extended period,” Lamont said.

The town of Oxford has been hit hard. Fire Chief Scott Pelletier said at least 100 have been evacuated by rescuers. Also in Oxford, flood waters stranded multiple motorists on Oxford Road near the Brookside Inn. People inside a nearby home and the restaurant had to be rescued.

At least 40 campers were trapped in Kettletown State Park in Shelton after walking and road bridges were washed away. State officials said they were rescued.

Also several docks and boats were ripped from shore and went floating down the river at Lake Housatonic.

Data from the NWS of rainfall totals from Saturday night to Monday morning showed Sandy Hook got more than 12″, Newtown, Monroe and Shelton around 10″, and Middlebury 9.5″. Water rescues were undertaken for multiple motorists stranded in Monroe.

In Stamford, the NWS reported there were multiple road closures and fire department water rescues most of Sunday morning.

There were multiple road closures in Ridgefield where water was three feet deep in spots.

A mudslide in Danbury caused a major gas leak and evacuations in the Woodland Hills Complex.

There was “substantial river flooding” along Five Mile River in New Canaan, where several roads were closed in town due to debris or flooding, according to NWS.

NWS said emergency management reported ongoing water rescues, several mudslides, numerous washed out roadways and bridges as well as swollen rivers from central Fairfield County into northern New Haven County. In addition, officials are assessing the integrity of several dams in the area.

At a news conference on Monday, Connecticut officials said they remained focused on rescue and recovery efforts and would later begin process of applying for federal disaster assistance.

New York

The NWS also issued flash flood warnings for New York’s Suffolk County. The service reported numerous road closings including parts of the Long Island Expressway due to flooding.

On Monday, Suffolk County declared a state of emergency. “We are shocked at the amount of damage in Suffolk County,” said Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine at a news conference. “The rain caused major flooding, mudslides, buried cars and damaged houses.”

New York data from the NWS of rainfall totals from Saturday night to Monday morning showed Port Jefferson, Stony Brook, Centereach and Setauket got more than 9″ of rain.

There were reports of residential rescues in Commack, Smithtown, St James, Centereach, Setauket, Selden, Coram, Port Jefferson, and Rocky Point as well as a number of stranded motorists.

Meanwhile, New York officials encouraged residents and visitors to take appropriate precautions as Canadian wildfire smoke impacts the air quality in the Upper Hudson Valley and Adirondack regions. The air quality is expected to be affected through August 16.

New Jersey

In New Jersey, NWS issued a flood watch for Sunday for the I-95 corridor and areas north and west into the Lehigh Valley and Berks County along with expectations for localized heavy rain. On Monday, NWS cautioned coastal residents to expect of up to one half foot of inundation above ground level in vulnerable areas near the waterfront and shoreline in Hudson, Eastern Essex and Eastern Union counties.

The campus at Seton Hall University in South Orange experienced some flooding as did areas of East Rutherford and Passaic, where numerous cars got stuck in the water near the train trestle.

There were dozens of reports of roads closed including parts of the Garden State Parkway and of trees down throughout the coastal region.

The Frankford Creek in Philadelphia rose from 1.71 feet to 7.56 feet, cresting near 8.5 feet just after 2 a.m. on Sunday.

Topics Flood