MONROE, CT — Heavy rain caused flash flooding in the region Sunday, and Monroe was hit hard as toppled utility poles caused power outages, and rushing water severely damaged roadways and property. Among the calls, firefighters rescued people trapped in their cars and homes.
A wedding party at The Waterview, 215 Roosevelt Drive, had to be evacuated when floodwaters caused significant erosion in back of the property.
“There were big craters in back of The Waterview,” Police Chief Keith White said. “The building wasn’t compromised, but the property is severely damaged. The ground in the back just washed away.”
Nearby, water rushed down the driveway into Z-Topia, the site of the former Stevenson Lumber property at 1545 Monroe Turnpike.
“We are still surveying the area, so we don’t have a full damage report yet,” said George Zwally, owner of Z-Topia. “It’s still underwater. We had roads washed out, debris all over, massive flooding. It’s going to take weeks to clean up. We are just glad that everyone in the area is safe.”
Route 34 is currently closed after the bridge in the curve by Lake Zoar Drive-In washed away, according to White.
He said rescue boats were on standby, but were not deployed in town.
The Great Hollow Lake section of Wolfe Park will be closed until further notice due to issues from the storm, according to a Facebook post by the Monroe Parks and Recreation Department.
While police officers responded to road incidents and calls for service, White said firefighters handled calls for basements, flooding and issues with homes.
Monroe Fire Chief Kevin Catalano said firefighters responded to dozens of calls for service Sunday, including two rescues of motorists trapped in vehicles in the Stepney area and two rescues from homes in Stevenson.
White said no injuries from the severe weather were reported, adding most of the calls were in the northeast of Monroe, with pockets of flooding reported throughout the town.
“We still continue to respond from when the storm first started, so it’s been hours,” he said Sunday night.
Eversource Energy crews were brought in and at approximately 8 p.m., White said, “they made significant progress. We’re down to 130 outages from a peak of 750. We’re waiting for the Connecticut DOT Bridge Unit to evaluate two spots on Route 34.”
“Tomorrow, we will be assessing damage,” First Selectman Terry Rooney said. “We are also having conversations with the state at this time. Our town was extremely impacted and traveling in the near future in certain areas is going to be difficult.”
The first selectman, who has communicated with residents online throughout the day, said he will post a listing of road closings on the town of Monroe’s website as soon as possible.
Monroe’s first responders received assistance from several towns during the storm.
“We had about 40 town of Monroe firefighters tied up on back-to-back calls, plus additional fire crews from Trumbull, Shelton, Bridgeport, Newtown and Norwalk assisting for nearly five hours,” Catalano said.
Rooney expressed his gratitude to the firefighters providing assistance. He also noted how Monroe Public Works Department crews assisted first responders, using heavy equipment to move logs and debris during rescues.
“We have roads and properties significantly damaged from the flooding,” Rooney said. “Emergency services are still on standby anticipating severe weather again this evening.”
In the video below, White shared a clip of flooding across Route 111, by the railroad bridge facing Route 34, and Zwally shared footage of flooding at Z-Topia, 1545 Monroe Turnpike.
The videos are followed by photos shared by White of severe flooding on Bagburn Hill Road and photos from Zwally and Catalano.
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