More dramatic photos from today’s storm:
The Saugatuck River rises close to its banks. (Photo/Robin Gusick)
A flooded parking garage on Riverside Avenue. (Photo/Robin Gusick)
Meanwhile, firefighters raced to Saugatuck Shores. They trudged through cold water, in high winds, to fight a smoky blaze on Canal Road.
Local builder Oliver Wilson rescued a dog from the house, before the fire department arrived. There was no one else inside.
A fire truck navigates flooded streets. (Photo/Gene Borio)
Firefighters trudged through flooded streets to fight the blaze. (Photo/Jeff Manchester)
A fishy no one is home fire during a nor’easter? Looks like a dangerous no brainer to me hello FD I applaud your bravery and your investigation. Insurance fraud sucks! (The water is already in the house) Just sayin’
@ Cristina what evidence do you have of insurance fraud? Do you have any idea what salt water can do when coming in contact with electrical? Maybe its time for you to step away from your keyboard and stop embarrassing yourself.
I apologize if I’m insulting or wrong in advance…just the way it comes across to me
Back in the day, a flood got high enough to short out the electric feed and that house burned down. After that, they posted a fire truck on Saugatuck Island whenever a flood was expected. Not sure if that is still happening.
do you work for an insurance company? Insurance companies do commit insurance fraud. They are very adept at it. They do not make any public service announcements asking if you know an insurance company who commits insurance fraud let us know. They love taking in premiums. Do a google search on insurance company fines and on insurance companies commiting fraud. Good luck
I have been thinking about my Westport and New England friends all day. I hope the storm calms and exits soon.
Tides come over Canal road 20+ times a year (as many Saugatuck Islanders found out to their dismay during the months the bridge was being rebuilt). This one was unusually high, almost 2′ over the road; tides this high happen maybe 4 times/year
In light of these tides, several houses on Canal Rd have road-level “garages,” which can accomodate for cars/storage, but are specifically designed to allow high tide waters to come in and go back out without serious damage. As you can see from the pic, the garage is below the living section of the house.
As to the cause: apparently, I hear through the grapevine, the fire resulted from an electrical short in the garage, probably from the sea water.
Cheers to Oliver for a) first noticing the fire and alerting WFD and b) rescuing the dog from the smoke-infested house!
All of those poor firetrucks now have salt all over their underside 🙁