Tag Archives: September 13 flood

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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