Route 67 Diner owner Mike Abe helps serve a free buffet to the community on Monday (Aug. 18), marking the one-year remembrance ceremony of a devastating flood that had wiped out his business.
SEYMOUR – Nothing could have prepared anyone in the Valley for Aug. 18, 2024.
On that day, a freak flash flood brought down 15 inches of rain in a matter of hours, deluging parts of the lower Naugatuck Valley, especially Seymour and Oxford.
Mother Nature’s fury claimed the lives of three people, devastated local businesses and caused millions of dollars in damage.
But on Monday (Aug. 18), exactly one year after the flooding, the community gathered at Klarides Village – the Bank Street shopping plaza among the hardest-hit locations in Seymour – to mark the anniversary and celebrate the town’s recovery.
At the center of the event was a newly reopened, newly refurbished, and newly expanded Route 67 Diner.
“We did it, we did it, all of us,” said diner owner Mike Abe, cheering and raising his arms in victory. “Last year, same day, (there) was tears in my eyes. Today, it’s different tears.”
Abe thanked the crowd of about 50 people, including local and state officials, residents, and contractors who helped rebuild the plaza.
See the video below for remarks from Abe, as well as from U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal. Story continues after video.
The diner was one of the last businesses in Klarides Village to reopen its doors after the flood crashed through the plaza. The plaza is home to 16 businesses. The UPS Store and the Country Card Corner store have not yet reopened.
After nearly a year’s worth of renovations, Abe and his wife, Linda, were able to not only remodel the popular family diner, but also expand the footprint from about 4,000 square feet to about 6,000 square feet. New floors, walls, booths, tables, chairs, counter seating and stools, a larger kitchen and more now greet all who enter the diner, which took over the space that previously housed the former Hallmark card store next door.
“From now on, remember this: August 18 is a celebration day, and it’s not going to be any more a sad day,” Abe said.
The hour-long ceremony featured a free buffet lunch courtesy of the diner and free donuts courtesy of the Klarides family, who owns the plaza. Several local and state officials spoke about the resilience of the community a year after devastation struck, and how working together helped rebuild the plaza.
“We came back even stronger. We’re a small community with a great big heart,” said Seymour First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis
Drugonis and other speakers thanked a long list of people who made the recovery efforts happen, from the volunteers who helped remove shattered glass bottles from Woodland Wine and Spirits to the contractors, business owners and emergency responders who pitched in on the herculean effort to rebuild.
Themis Klarides, one of the plaza owners, said the family’s strong foundation got them through a heartbreaking time when the plaza seemed like it was a total loss.
“A year ago today we came down here, and it was a beautiful day just like today, but the devastation that we saw here was something you can’t even imagine,” Klarides said, describing the six-foot waves that crashed through buildings. “There were times when we thought ‘I don’t know how we’re going to get through this.’ But our parents raised us to be tough, Greek broads. We don’t give in, we don’t give up and we do it together.”
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said Seymour’s comeback story is a model for the state.
“In any kind of 100-year flood – and there will be another flood sooner than 100 years because that’s the new normal – we need to make sure the Little River doesn’t become a raging torrent again. You have provided a model here for what we need across Connecticut and across our country.”
State Comptroller Sean Scanlon, whose in-laws live nearby in Southbury and are frequent visitors to the diner, said when he visited the destruction last year, he was struck by how the community came together to help.
“I came down here a year ago and it looked like a bomb had gone off,” Scanlon said. “It’s incredible to be back here today and see people in their best moment. I remember hearing glass breaking every minute or two and I didn’t know what it was. We got down to Woodland and there was a big dumpster and there were all these people, random people, citizens of this community, who just showed up and took sharp, broken bottles and threw them into the container. And that’s the beauty of what happened here.”
Earlier in the day Monday (Aug. 18), neighboring Oxford held a remembrance ceremony at Oxford Town Hall, near Kirk’s Pond, to honor the lives of the two Oxford women who lost their lives when the flood hit. Benches were dedicated in memory of Ethelyn Joiner, 65, and Audrey Rostkowski, 71, both Oxford residents, who died as a result of the tragic flooding.