On Sunday, 7 inches of rain inundated Westport. All over town, businesses and homes were flooded.
Among the hardest hit neighborhoods: Compo Beach. Homeowners on Soundview Drive, the 4 side roads and Bradley Street are used to storms. Many have recently raised their structures.
But this time was different. The drains that typically overflow — but eventually carry water away — may not have worked.
As water coursed through his home, a resident emailed 2 of his Representative Town Meeting members, Kristin Mott Purcell and Chris Tait. He copied “06880.” He wrote:
High tide was nearly 4 hours ago. The flood waters have receded exactly 2 inches since then.
I know, because it is very easy to mark the water levels on our (and our neighbors’) garage doors.
Two inches of receding water, as we approach low tide.
Flooded street near Compo Beach, a few hours after the rain ended.
When storm drains are clear, and the drain pipe “flaps” and pumps are working at Compo Basin, water pours into the storm drains with a vengeance after a flood event like this.
It is easy to see the “vortex funnels” above every storm drain, even if the water is 2 or 3 feet deep. And the water dissipates very quickly.
There is no vortex above the storm drains tonight. The water has nowhere to go.
I will give you 10-to-1 odds we will find out the town did not open the floodgates at the marina or Gray’s Creek. They probably also did not turn on the pump that helps move out the water.
Fairfield Avenue, after the storm passed. Water at one point was 3 feet deep, a neighbor says.
The town is not responsible for freakish, heavy rainfalls or the sudden accumulation that results from them. But we surely should have a drainage system that suits one of the wealthiest towns in the country, and that has experienced this problem time and again over the past few decades.
I want to work with both of you to get to the bottom of this issue this week. We have sustained a massive amount of damage, much of which could have been avoided or minimized, if we could have gotten the water out of our house quickly.
Instead, it has been nearly 9 hours that we have had more than a foot of water inside our living spaces. That is unacceptable.
“06880” spoke with RTM member Chris Tait yesterday. He says:
“I talked to (Public Works director) Larry Roberts. He told me the pumps were running, but the rain backed up the system. They’re 12-inch pumps, that work over a 24-hour period. Not right away.”
Tait says Roberts told him that standing water on Bradley Street — visible Monday — was caused by debris clogging the pipes.
The RTM member will meet with DPW engineers, to see whether a drain by the Minute Man monument — broken several years ago — was fixed properly.
Flooding on Bradley Street at Fairfield Avenue, Monday afternoon.
Compo Beach resident Jim Hood insists, “It doesn’t add up.”
He says he stood on top of a storm drain during the storm, and could not see “even a ripple. If water was going down even slowly, I’d see it. For 7 or 8 hours, there was nothing.
“Then suddenly, it went down quickly. It defies the laws of physics.”
“06880” reached out to 1st Selectman Kevin Christie for comment. As of last night, he had not responded.
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Homeowners are paying millions of dollars for homes in Westport and 7 inches of rain turns the town chaotic! Nothing says ‘sound investment’ like a $4 million dollar house with a moat feature nobody asked for. There’ hasn’t been hurricane activity in Connecticut this year, just think if you got hit by a Category 3 like we did in the 1950s Westport is much, much better now than in the old days.
Respectfully disagree with your last sentence; ‘today’ isn’t even close to the time (“50s) I came of age in Westport.
Ummmm.. Mr. Kent… My last sentence was EXTREMELY SARCASTIC!!!!!!!! You’re not following the drift of my comments. And speaking out drift, any cars drifting down the streets today??? Anyone who lived in Westport in the 1950s or 60s knows the truth. I should have ended my last sentence with 😂🤣.
Why don’t you take Dobie Gray’s advice, and ‘Drift Away’ Jack?
Hmmm. I agree that something definitely doesn’t seem quite right here. I sure hope it will be addressed. As an aside, under the category of, I guess, gallows humor, if any of you Compo Beach peeps want to swap for a mud soaked grass hut on Violet Lane, I’m down with it.
The Westport, ‘starter home’ means the mold hasn’t fully started yet — and it’s still $2.8 million and your Tesla just became a “ jet ski.” (Remember “over payers, I have a sense of humor.) Don’t get upset with me, just pay more taxes!
Why are you so angry with the new residents? It’s a pattern with you buddy, and it’s not a great look tbh.
Westport is a NYC bedroom community, not some romantic artist colony from the ’50s or a bunch of onion farmers before them. It’s a 1% most desirable place on our planet though, probably why we all read and post here.
Penn Central before Conrail before MetroNorth brought the real wealth. Relatively easy access to Manhattan and an idyllic environment to build and raise your family.
We come for the schools. My Dad did it. I came back at 33 to do it too. We all had long commutes but it was well worth it and we wouldn’t change a thing.
My guess is that a Backiel has never commuted. Your family benefited from the wealth brought by the same tireless commuters you now regularly attack on the blog.
What would you rather happen? No one moves here, everyone grows old and dies, the community crumbles?
I love that when I tapped out, someone new tapped in. It’s the circle of life my friend. Embrace it.
While we wait for more info on what happened during the storm, perhaps we should also look at the bigger picture–including our rules regarding drainage for new construction. Why, for example, does the Town only require that new houses have sufficient drainage for 25-year storms–when we know that 100-year and 200-year storms are the new normal? Back in 2018, Save Westport Now tried to convince the Town to tighten up the rules–but the answer we got was that “the developers wouldn’t like that.” A few months ago, at a meeting with P&Z, we tried again and were once again stonewalled. It’s time for everyone in Town Hall to take drainage seriously.
Once again the First Selectman has no comment, what a shock , unless it’s a photo op at some new business opening or free food ,it’s all crickets
It’s a pattern that started with Tooker(so long)
Politician paralysis.
All show. No go.