Freak Storm of 10/11/2007

[Guest]

Anyone else get hammered by the amazing weather last night (10/11/2007).

If so, what were your numbers?

New Canaan: 33 calls total (between 6:45 and 11:00)

Breakdown:

-Possible Structure Fire

-upwards of 10 AFA's

-Several "water problems"

-Submerged car fire

-Electrical problems

-smoke conditions

Others I am likely missing

A total of 8 apparatus handle all calls.

[Medibart 55]

The Advocate said 6 inches of rain fell in Stamford. I tried to go to my gym, LA Fitness, in Stamford. The street in front of the gym is a slight hill. There was a river, the width of the street and about a foot deep, rushing down the street and on the sidewalk. Was a pretty wild sight. Apparently Mother Nature didn't want me to work out so I went and had a few beers instead. Fortunately I didn't go earlier. When I went this morning the parking lot that was inaccessible last night still had cars in them with water marks half way up the doors.

Lesson learned: going to the gym can be very hazardous and can ruin your car!

[Guest]

The Advocate said 6 inches of rain fell in Stamford. I tried to go to my gym, LA Fitness, in Stamford. The street in front of the gym is a slight hill. There was a river, the width of the street and about a foot deep, rushing down the street and on the sidewalk. Was a pretty wild sight. Apparently Mother Nature didn't want me to work out so I went and had a few beers instead. Fortunately I didn't go earlier. When I went this morning the parking lot that was inaccessible last night still had cars in them with water marks half way up the doors.

Lesson learned: going to the gym can be very hazardous and can ruin your car!

Accuweather reported 5.60 inches of rainfall in New Canaan. Guess we made up for it absense in September!

[Future Fireman 4]

Accuweather reported 5.60 inches of rainfall in New Canaan. Guess we made up for it absense in September!

Man, some people have all the luck. Barely got a drop! Now where's this superstorm that we need to make up in rainfall?

Mike

[ENG47INE 17]

We got some pretty heavy rain fall and some pretty intense winds and thunderstorms in Dobbs Ferry but didn't do any calls.

[Guest]

Anyone else get hammered by the amazing weather last night (10/11/2007).

If so, what were your numbers?

New Canaan: 33 calls total (between 6:45 and 11:00)

Breakdown:

-Possible Structure Fire

-upwards of 10 AFA's

-Several "water problems"

-Submerged car fire

-Electrical problems

-smoke conditions

Others I am likely missing

A total of 8 apparatus handle all calls.

Add to the New Canaan list a flooded town hall basement with 24" + water ( Fire Marshal's Office, Building Dept and Parking Dept along with town's records vault. Quite the mess.. )

[Guest]

Stamford Advocate

6 inches of rain swamps Stamford streets

By Monica Potts

Staff Writer

October 12, 2007

STAMFORD - A rainstorm pummeled lower Fairfield County last night, dumping at least six inches of rain in Stamford and surrounding towns in about four hours, flooding homes and streets, clogging rush-hour traffic and leaving 700 residents without electricity, authorities said.

At the height of the storm, reports of flooded streets and homes came from the city's East and West sides, Shippan and the Cove, as well as Springdale, High Ridge and Long Ridge.

Parts of East Main Street near Myrtle Avenue, Elm Street, North and South State streets, Hamilton Avenue, Cove Road and Pumping Station Roads were closed because of the flooding, Stamford Fire & Rescue Chief Robert McGrath said.

No one was injured, McGrath said, but at least two people were evacuated from their cars. Four children were stuck on a school bus trapped in traffic and were later taken to the Stamford Government Center to be picked up by their parents.

A couple dozen cars were abandoned, Police Lt. Sean Cooney said.

Some basements and homes in the southern and eastern parts of the city were flooded, McGrath said. About 40 people from Stamford were taken to a shelter set up last night with the Darien/Stamford chapter of the American Red Cross at the Noroton Heights Fire Department.

The Molina family were among those evacuated from their apartment on Cove Road who planned to go to the shelter.

"The water came up through the floor first, and then came through the doors," said Angela Molina, 24, who lives in the lowest apartment in her complex with her husband, Luis, 22, and her 5- and 2-year-old daughters.

Molina said she fears flooding during every heavy rain, but this is the first time water came into the apartment.

"Our couches are gone, our entertainment center is ruined," Luis Molina said.

The fire department took the Molinas from their home at about 6 p.m.

At about 6:30 p.m., cars crawled through tire-high water just south of Interstate 95 near the Elm Street overpass, and some cars were abandoned in parking lots. Traffic lights were out in areas of south Stamford, adding to the confusion.

About 15 to 20 people were evacuated from cars, homes and business in the Noroton Heights area of Darien, Chief Douglas Lockhart of the Darien Fire Department said.

"We used our high-water rescue truck" for the evacuations, he said. "We had to close railroad underpasses in three parts of town."

Roads in New Canaan also were flooded, but no evacuations were necessary. Roads were starting to clear by about 9:30 p.m., the New Canaan police department said.

In Norwalk, the police scanner crackled from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. with reports of drivers trapped in their cars on flooded streets, fallen tree branches, downed electrical wires, basement flooding and a three-car accident on Flax Hill Avenue near Washington Street. No injuries were reported.

Commuters on Interstate 95 were slowed by the torrential downpour, state police said. Stamford officials also asked state police to close Exits 7 and 8 for several hours because the local roads around the exit ramps were flooded.

According to Mitch Gross of Connecticut Light & Power, 719 people in Stamford were without power during the storm.

Greg Carbin, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Storm Prediction Center, said at least six inches of rain fell from 5 to 9:30 p.m., not including water that was already on the ground from earlier rain.

"That's extremely heavy rainfall," he said. Much of the rain seemed to be isolated over the Stamford area. "There's no surprise you would have flash floods," he said.

The drainage system did not malfunction, McGrath said. The size and speed of the storm caused the flooding problems. "It overwhelmed the infrastructure," he said.

"We have places that have experienced flooding where people are saying they just never had it before," said Police Capt. Tom Lombardo, the city's emergency management director.

Carolyn Mason, 54, said the apartment where her 85-year-old mother, Mary Toreso, lives, has been flooded three other times this year.

"She was pushing her panic button to try to get help," Mason said. Toreso called her daughter before her phones went dead.

"We called 911, and they said she was No. 50 on the list," Mason said.

Mason's brother-in-law spent two hours in traffic to get to Toreso, who lives on Limerick Street in the Cove. Mason said he found her nearly drowning in water that was almost six feet high.

Mason said the sewers near her mother's apartment back up and, sewage enters Toreso's apartment each time it is flooded. Toreso pays for the cleanup, she said.

"The city is not doing anything for these sewers," Mason said.

Copyright © 2007, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.

[E-38VMFD 0]

In the Village of mamaroneck, we got rained on pretty hard but no calls. i guess we are makin up for the 600 calls in the april 2007 storm

[Skooter92 7]

We almost lost three of Stamford ER's nurses during the flooding. They were returning from a night of collegial bonding when they made a wrong turn and ended up turning a VW Passat into a submarine. Stamford PD effected the rescue in at least 5 feet of water, but it was touch and go. P.S. Soggy nurses still smell pretty good.

[Guest EFFP411]

Oh man, I'm so glad we didn't get that here, i don't want to hear a word about flooding or rain again for at least 6 months. our last "storm weekend" brought us just about 226 calls in 3 days. NEVER AGAIN!!!!

[SWEMCC70 0]

While I wasn't outside during this storm (but have sat through my share of "Water Problems" in the field), I was sitting inside our center and was taking the calls for assistance (Why isn't anyone here yet, and I have more water in my house than anyone). My partner was hammered in New Canaan, while I took the brunt of work in the rest of the SW-CMED area. For about three hours it was non-stop and I was so happy to leave at 23:00.