Though bridges throughout New Canaan fared well last week despite severe flooding due to Hurricane Idea, some local homes, roadways and walking trails suffered damage, officials say.
A tree also fell opposite the Country Club of New Canaan, affecting residents of Brookwood Lane, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann.
The footbridge at Mill Pond on Sept. 2, 2021, after flooding due to Hurricane Ida. Photo by Carl Franco of Francos Wine Merchants
“That one was a little bit problematic, the delay in response, whereby we had about seven, eight houses blocked, and it took us quite a long time to get a crew to help us cut and clear,” Mann told the Board of Selectmen during their regular meeting, held Tuesday at Town Hall and via videoconference.
“he majority of the problem we had was the fact that we had about 4.2 inches of rain in an hour-and-a-half, that puts us at anywhere from a 100- to 200-year storm, so we had a lot of residents affected by that, some that had never been affected before with basement flooding, and others that have had issues in the past that continued forward, specifically the Old Stamford Road area.”
Mann’s comments came in response to a question from First Selectman Kevin Moynihan about the impact of the storm on the town and residents.
Gov. Ned Lamont on Sept. 2 signed a declaration of civil preparedness emergency in response to the widespread flood damage caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida, which passed through Connecticut overnight Sept. 1 to 2. Connecticut State Police Trooper Brian E. Mohl died Sept. 2 after his cruiser was swept away in floodwaters in Woodbury.
In New Canaan, Old Stamford Road saw a significant amount of water flow down under the railroad overpass and toward the Noroton River at Jelliff Mill Road, Mann said.
“Imagine all the water is trying to get down the hill, trying to get to the river itself,” he said. “The water was cresting over the bridge, I think we’d had that one time before. The bridge was designed for that, so that is why there’s an open railing. We took a look at it and the bridge is fine, thankfully. We did take a look at every other bridge in town and every other bridge fared well. We lost some roadway on Turner Hill and down on Valley Road. We repaired those almost immediately.”
Moynihan noted that parts of some of the walking trails at Waveny have been closed off because they suffered damage. Mann said Public Works is focused first on repairing a heavily used walking trail that runs west from the main house toward Lapham Road.
“We’ve got to put in some additional swales or make the swales a little bit deeper,” he said, referring to channels designed to help with runoff.
“We’ve done a lot of drainage work in and around the trail system,” Mann said. “It shows the need for a little bit more.”
Town-owned buildings did not suffer any serious damage due to the flooding, Mann said.