Torrential Rains Flood NW Corner
Flooding at Woodridge Lake Clubhouse, July 16th.
On July 16th an estimated 11 inches of rain inundated the Northwest Corner, causing widespread flooding and damage to roads, utilities and private property in Norfolk, Colebrook and Goshen. The next day, US Senator Richard Blumenthal and State Representative Maria Horn were on location in all three towns to survey the damage and discuss potential Federal and State support for the clean-up.
Norfolk suffered the most extensive damage, with roads washed out in multiple locations. State Representative Maria Horn provided the following statement and photographs:
“The recent multiple storms that flooded our region and neighboring states have caused significant damage to state and local infrastructure as well as private property and farms. I have been incredibly impressed by the work done by local road crews and the CT DOT to get our roads passable, but it has been costly. I am encouraging everyone with flood damage to provide quotes for the repair to local officials in hopes that CT can qualify for federal assistance from FEMA. This is particularly important as FEMA has the potential to help private homeowners.“
Norfolk First Selectman, Matt Riiska, was on hand at Norfolk’s Town Hall to meet with Blumenthal and Horn as well. When faced with the ever increasing challenges of too much water or no water, Matt’s attitude is defiant: “I realize it’s disruptive (to go through these storms/droughts) but we’re all in this together.” “Throw another punch at us, we’re ready. …(we have) a great team!”
From Norfolk, the group traveled on to Colebrook, and then to Goshen, where they met with 1st Selectman Todd Carusillo and toured the damages in Town in his truck. See the summary of the 1st Selectman’s report to the Board of Selectman on July 18th, in the article beginning on page 3.
In an interview with The Goshen News, Senator Blumenthal expressed his concern about the droughts and floods affecting Connecticut residents and businesses. He plans to advocate on behalf of the Northwest Corner to obtain Federal emergency funds to help rebuild the damaged areas. We asked the Senator about the extreme weather patterns we have experienced in this area in the recent past – the past few years were droughts and this year we’re getting extreme flooding. “Do you see this as connected to global climate change?”
Blumenthal concurred, and is advocating increased use of renewable energy sources to slow down releases of carbon into the atmosphere. Norfolk has already contracted for the building of a large solar field on a former landfill site. This solar field will be hooked into the electrical grid and utilized by Eversource. Norfolk will receive a yearly payment for participating in this program. The ultimate goal is to lower the cost of electricity to low and middle-income residents in the state.
Reuters has reported that according to the U. N. World Meteorological Organization (WMO), July 2023 was the hottest month worldwide in the 174 years since weather observations began to be systematically recorded.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) tallied that the United States broke nearly 3000 records in the past 30 days. And it’s not just air temperatures that are breaking records, ocean surface temperatures have risen to hot tub-like numbers at the same time.
