Nearly five inches of rain turn some roads into quagmires

A low spot in North Colebrook Road, near the outlet of Benedict Pond. Photo by Sally Quale.

By Alyson Thomson
A strong spring noríeaster came up the Atlantic Coast and arrived in the Norfolk area in the early morning hours of Sunday, April 15. The mix of rain and snow turned to all wet snow by breakfast time. By lunch there was three inches of heavy, slushy snow on the ground. Then came the wind and rain . . . and rain, and rain, and rain.
Those of us who live in north Norfolk are deeply grateful for the dams that were built across Wood Creek after the fatal floods of 1955. They protected us and our cellars from this latest deluge. Others were not so lucky, with scores of calls to Norfolkís volunteer fire department for cellar pump-outs, and calls to the Norfolk Sewage District offices to deal with an overwhelmed storm-drain system.
Russell Russ at the National Weather Service weather station in Great Mountain Forest reports that 4.95 inches of rain fell from Sunday through Wednesday, April 18. This made for a total rainfall of 6.7 inches from April 1 through April 18, making this the fifth wettest month in Norfolk on record. The average rainfall for April is 4.4 inches.
Roads were washed out all over town. Jim Stotler, who lives on Schoolhouse Road in south Norfolk and who for many years worked for Connecticutís Department of Transportation, said the washout was the worst he had seen since the Schoolhouse bridge was swept away in 1955.

Town Hall is seeking federal funds to repair this washout on West Side Road, near Bigelow Pond, and others like it. Photo by Lloyd Garrison.

It was certainly the worst that Dennis Porter has seen in the more than eight years he has worked in Norfolk as head of the town garage. He and his road crews worked tirelessly to get most roads passable by weekís end, though sections of Grantville, Schoolhouse and Parker Hill roads are likely to remain open for only one lane for some time to come. Other badly eroded roads included Lovers Lane, Doolittle Drive, and Mountain, Westside, North Colebrook, South Sandisfield, Meekertown, Golf Drive and Loon Meadow roads.
Town Hall has been busy estimating the cost of materials, the time spent clearing the debris and the restorative measures taken to make the roads useable again. Already, some Federal Emergency Management Agency representatives have toured some of the worst-hit roads, and Porter has photographs of other roads that will be used as evidence in seeking federal disaster aid.
ìWe estimate that full recovery will cost the town in the neighborhood of two million dollars,î says First Selectman Sue Dyer. She is hopeful of getting much if not most of that back in the form of federal aid. ìThe last time we asked FEMA for help,î she says, ìwe got 75 percent of what we needed to get back to normal after the floods in 2005.î
The silver lining behind this Aprilís excessive showers was the warm, dry weather that soon followed. Also, those struggling to file their state tax returns on time were given an extension until April 26 by a sympathetic Governor Jodi Rell.

Photo, top, by Lloyd Garrison: Selectman Jim Stotler assesses Norfolk’s worst flood damage on Schoolhouse Road, where it is crossed by the Mad River.