From lightning strikes to a river in the middle of Route 8, Friday’s freakish rain storm and flooding put Seymour emergency responders and its public works department to the test.
They answered the call — as evidenced by the stories related here and here.
Now officials will be preparing a situation report to detail what happened, how it was handled — and whether any lessons can be learned.
The report will also help Seymour apply for financial assistance from the state or federal government to help with repairs. A damage dollar amount still isn’t known.
“We’ve begun fact finding,” said Tom Eighmie, the town’s director of emergency management.
The brunt of the storm hit during the evening rush hour Friday.
Among some of the challenges police, firefighters, EMS and public works faced Friday (click here and here for more):
- A radio tower communications tower was struck by lightning on Progress Avenue. A power surge knocked out a second emergency communications system on Great Hill. Emergency crews relied on police dispatchers.
- Cell phones stopped working for most of Seymour at 4:45 p.m. because two cell towers — one at Nolan Field off Wakelee Avenue and a second on Rimmon Road in Beacon Falls — malfunctioned during the storm. The town had cell coverage problems for at least an hour.
- The fire department responded to 31 calls for service between 4:45 p.m. and 10 p.m. EMS responded to six calls during that same time period.
In the following video, recorded at Tuesday’s Board of Selectmen meeting, First Selectman Paul Roy talks about the town’s response to Friday’s flood. Story continues after the video.
Code Red Not Used
Seymour officials did not use its “Code Red“ emergency notification system during Friday’s flood.
Code Red was not used because 21 minutes into the storm, the entire area was already gridlocked, Eighmie said. He and Seymour Police Chief Michael Metzler did not see how sending the telephone alert to homes would help the situation.
The Code Red issue — and whether it should have been used later in the evening Friday to update residents — will also be a part of the Seymour review.
“We didn’t do it later on, and that’s something we’re going to talk about,” Eighmie said.
First Selectman Paul Roy said he will have a meeting Wednesday with emergency responders to review how the town handled the incident.
Regarding Code Red, Roy said the emphasis Friday night was to make emergency repairs where possible and to close roads that posed a danger to the public.
Alex Danka, president of the Seymour Land Trust, said the floods badly damaged Chatfield Park. It is closed until repairs can be made.
Danka said the town should have used Code Red to tell people the park was closed. Young people were in the park Tuesday evening, Danka said.
“We should use the (Code Red system) much more efficiently,” Danka told members of Seymour Board of Selectmen at their meeting Tuesday.
See the top video for more comments from Danka.
