Torrential rains turned streets into rivers in parts of Connecticut and on August 18, trapping people in cars, covering vehicles in mud and devastating people’s homes.
Dramatic rescues were set into place as over a foot of rain fell on some parts of Connecticut, coming down so fast it caught drivers unaware.
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, who declared a state of emergency, said more than one hundred people were evacuated by search and rescue teams.
Numerous roads were closed down in the area, many because of washed out bridges. The Waterbury branch of the commuter Metro-North Railroad remained closed due to flooding and damage from a mudslide.
Even in Beacon Falls, more than a dozen people and one dog were rescued from a flooded restaurant, Brookside Inn, and a nearby home.
A crew was placed near the restaurant when it was reported that the flood water was rising, and there were concerns about the restaurant’s structure being compromised with eighteen people inside.
The resident and her dog were rescued by the crew first, then the crew shifted their focus to the restaurant. The people had evacuated to the second and main floors. Firefighters helped all of the people walk up the aerial ladder. One person had to be carried up the ladder.
The bodies of two women, who had been in separate cars, were recovered in Oxford, officials said. State police identified the bodies a day later.
“Firefighters were trying to get one of the women to safety when the flooded Little River swept her away,” Oxford Fire Chief Scott Pelletier said.
The second woman got out of her car and tried to cling to a sign, but the racing water was too much, and swept her away.
“This is a tragic and devastating day for Oxford,” Oxford’s first selectman George Temple said.
In nearby Southbury, Lucas Barber used wilderness first responder skills he learned to wade through chest high water to rescue Patrick Jennings, who has a prosthetic leg, and his dog from a car outside Southbury Plaza..
Barber used rope he kept in his car for emergencies, tried to throw his rope to the car, but then waded and swam to the vehicle once he realized Jenning’s physical condition.
Barber then wrapped the rope around Jenning’s waist and chest, and around the dog’s collar, but it became undone on the collar. Once he got the man to safety, he went back for the dog, Stanley, and went back a third time for the man’s prosthetic leg.
In Southbury, a mudslide destroyed several buildings and structures at a poultry farm and killed more than 100 chickens, the owner said on social media.
“My parents went out shopping during the flood and got caught out there with only one washed up dirt road being the way back. They even had to get a kids car out of the ditch for him and barely made it back themselves!” NHS senior Luke Stratford said.
The storm system that hit Connecticut then moved to Long Island was separate from Hurricane Ernesto, which on Monday was over the open Atlantic Ocean but was still expected to cause powerful effects.
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