U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal is touring the Valley today to assess damage from Monday’s floods.
He made his first stop at Oxford Town Hall at about 10 a.m., where he met with town officials before heading out to the Housatonic River along Route 34 to see the damage for himself.
Water levels at the Stevenson Dam Monday reached the fifth highest since the National Weather Service started recording. The river crested at 21.68 feet at about 2:15 p.m. Monday.
Blumenthal promised to seek out whatever federal funding is available to help those whose homes were wrecked or damaged, and also, to look into the early warning systems that are in place to be sure they are adequate.
“Any damage is serious,” Blumenthal said in a brief press conference before meeting with First Selectman Mary Ann Drayton-Rogers, Fire Chief Scott Pelletier, Resident Trooper Sgt. Daniel Semosky and several others in emergency services.
He outlined a plan to visit the entire Valley area affected by the rainstorm and snow melt.
“I’m here to see what the damage was,” Blumenthal said. “I’ll seek relief for the families, and better preventative measures.”
A member of his staff said Blumenthal will engage the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to be certain that FirstLight Power Resources Management LLC responded appropriately in its early warning systems and decision on when to open the floodgates and allow massive amounts of water to exit the Stevenson Dam.
FirstLight Power owns Stevenson Dam.
Blumenthal is scheduled to meet with Derby Mayor Anthony Staffieri, Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti and emergency officials at 1 p.m. at the Maples neighborhood in Shelton, which was also heavily impacted by the flooding. Click here to read an article about a couple there waiting for federal funds to help flood-proof their home.
Click here to read all Valley Indy coverage of the flooding.
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro will also visit the areas affected by the Housatonic River flooding this weekend. She is scheduled to arrive in Derby at 11 a.m. Saturday to meet with Staffieri.
The forecast from the National Weather Service:
Today: Rain, mainly before 10am. High near 52. East wind 7 to 10 mph becoming south. Chance of precipitation is 80 percent. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.
Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 31. West wind around 6 mph.
Saturday: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 52. West wind between 6 and 14 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
Saturday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 35. West wind between 3 and 8 mph.
Stevenson in Monroe, Shepaug in Southbury, Rocky River in New Milford, Falls Village and Bulls Bridge dams: All up the Housatonic River are owned by First Light Power Resources, which is part of GDF SUEZ Energy North America, which is a unit of GDF SUEZ – The #1 independent power producer in the world, headquartered in France.
The water flow is managed for highest yield of revenue when selling electricity on the spot market. This is revealed by lawsuit from the owner of the last dam on the river, which is not owned by First Light.
Yes flooding was annually expected during spring thaw, but the percentage over flood stage on the Housy is surprisingly high compared to similar measurements on other watercourses. Was the Naugatuck or FarMill at such record levels?Therefore, it does seem worthwhile to investigate and ensure that proper water-flow management of the Housatonic River was followed.
These dams take value (kinetic energy) from the public resource (river) and convert it to potential energy (electricity) that can be transported over high voltage wires and sold on open marketplace. Because of the taking of public value that crosses state lines, this is managed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and each facility is licensed by them.
Lawsuit article from McCallum (Derby dam owner) against First Light (owns all Housy upstream dams): http://www.allbusiness.com/energy-utilities/utilities-industry-electric-power/14766021-1.html