HARTFORD, Conn. — Emergency personnel are responding across the state after Ida dumped more than half a foot of rain on Connecticut overnight, forcing water rescues, closing highways and shutting down all Metro North rail travel into Manhattan. A state trooper was swept away in his police car by floodwaters in Woodbury.
The veteran trooper is in critical condition at Yale New Haven Hospital. The trooper, a sergeant with Troop L in Litchfield, radioed that his cruiser was swept away by floodwater about 3:30 a.m. His cruiser was first found empty. He was later found after searches by ground and from the air with drones and helicopters, Trooper Pedro Muniz said. He was flown to Yale New Haven Hospital by Life Star helicopter.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the trooper,” he said.
In Bristol, the Pequabuck River and Copper Mine Brook overflowed, forcing firefighters to evacuate a small condo complex on East Main Street and rescue motorists who got stuck on water-filled streets, Mayor Ellen Zoppo-Sassu said.
Twenty-eight condominium residents were taken to the Plainville Fire Department, she said. East Main Street, which is parallel to the Pequabuck, is near the Plainville line. She doesn’t know of any injuries.
“We had, at about 1:30 [a.m.], probably about a dozen roads blocked off. We are down to about three,” Zoppo-Sassu said shortly after 7:30 a.m. Still, she said anyone who needs to drive should be careful.
“They need to proceed with caution,” the mayor said. “The water is deeper than it looks.”
Bristol had 5.91 inches of rain, said Gary Lessor, chief meteorologist with Western Connecticut State University’s Connecticut Weather Center. The most rain was measured in Seymour, where, 8.72 inches fell.
“Two months' worth of rain in 16-20 hours,” he said. “Copious downpours.”
Manchester had 5.36 inches, and Coventry had 6.54. More rain fell in the southern half of the state, with the Uncasville section of Montville getting 8.58 inches and 7.51 falling in Norwich.
East Lyme and Old Lyme also both got more than 7 inches, with East Lyme getting 7.36 and Old Lyme getting 7.5, Lessor said. Darien got 6.88 inches.
A flash flood warning remains in effect in Hartford, Tolland and Windham counties until 3:15 p.m., the National Weather Service said. An alert that jolted cellphones shortly before 7:30 a.m. Thursday warned: “This is a dangerous and life-threatening situation. Do not attempt to travel unless you are fleeing an area subject to flooding or under an evacuation order.”
For the first time, the weather service also issued a flash flood emergency for Fairfield and New Haven counties Wednesday as the remnants of Hurricane Ida brought tornadoes, floods and record rain to the Northeast.
UConn hasn’t had any significant flooding at any of its campuses, but closed its Stamford campus Thursday because travel is difficult in the hard-hit area, said Stephanie Reitz, UConn spokeswoman. All online classes will be held as scheduled.
Travel
Metro North suspended its service shortly before 2:30 a.m. “due to extreme flooding conditions, downed trees, debris and power outages caused by severe weather across our entire territory,” the railroad said.
With serious flooding in New York City, Metro North earlier suspended service on the New Haven, Harlem and Hudson lines out of Grand Central Terminal late Wednesday, advising people to avoid travel if possible. Service on every subway line in New York City was also suspended as of 11:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Residents were advised to avoid driving all together.
“Although we have multiple flooding events in the past month, when it comes to driving and heavy rains, practice does not make perfect,” said Amy Parmenter, spokeswoman for AAA in Greater Hartford. “The safest plan is a plan to stay home and off the roads if at all possible. If you must travel, make sure you give yourself ample time, drive slowly and pull over to a safe location whenever visibility is limited.”
As far as air travel, all flight activity was suspended from Newark after major flooding at the airport.
As of midnight Thursday, the city of Bridgeport reported 17 locations where cars were stuck in water and 22 flooded streets.
An hour before, Norwalk police announced on Twitter that four streets were closed due to flooding. Fairfield police also reported numerous flooded roads.
Power outages
As of 1 a.m. Thursday, more than 16,000 Eversource customers in Connecticut were without power, according to the power company’s outage map. By 9:15 a.m. Thursday, the number was down to 14,519.
Among the towns in the dark Thursday morning were Monroe, with 988 customers out and Redding, with 796, or 20% of the town.
Other hard-hit towns included Killingworth, with 617, or 21% of the town, in the dark and Stamford, with 613.
Only 1,806 United Illuminating customers lacked power at 9:15 a.m. They include 659 in Hamden and 407 in Fairfield, the company said.
The NWS forecast early Wednesday called for 3-5 inches in most of the state, although 6 or 7 inches were expected in places.
The showers are the remnants of Hurricane Ida, and the timing couldn’t be worse, after tropical storms like Henri and Elsa flooded streets during what was Hartford County’s third-wettest summer on record.
Although the storm is no longer as powerful, the concern in Connecticut is that the ground is saturated from previous rainfall and can’t absorb much more. Tropical Storm Henri on Aug. 22 caused major water damage in Manchester and Bolton, washing out a road and a bridge, respectively. And so many trees fell in the small town of Canterbury, nearly the entire town lost power.
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