One Year Later, Flood's Impact Recalled

One year ago, on March 30, it started raining in southern New England, and by the time the rain stopped, nearly two days later, it had a name: the Flood of 2010.

Ledyard Firefighter Keith Harrison said the heavy rain began on a Tuesday.

“We started pumping Tuesday and continued through Wednesday and really right on through to Friday,” he said. During that week, firefighters worked almost around the clock in an effort to stay ahead of the rising waters. “Friday was the first day we were able to quit at a normal hour.”

“It was a bad week,” said Fire Marshal Jim Mann. “We were going three to four days, day and night. Some of these basements were filling up as fast as we could pump them out. The ground could only absorb so much.”

Mann said his own home had several inches of water in the basement, something that had never happened before. Another home that firefighters responded to had nearly six feet of water in the basement. “(The owner) said she had never had water in her basement either,” Mann said.

“They did a fantastic job,” said Mayor Fred B. Allyn Jr. of the effort by firefighters to help homeowners stay ahead of the floodwaters. “Far and above what you can expect from anyone, and these were volunteers.”

While some towns lost roads and bridges, the hundreds of flooded basements accounted for the majority of the storm’s impact in Ledyard.

Emergency Services Director Sean McGuckin said damage to R.B. Kent’s building on Baldwin Hill Road was about the worst property damage he saw. And Public Works Director Steve Masalin said there was damage to some town road infrastructure, especially along Lantern Hill Road.

One year later, major repairs to a section of Lantern Hill Road by the pond will involve raising the road and installing a rectangular “box culvert.” The cost of the work is estimated at $1.2 million.

“It’s expensive,” Allyn said, but added that local taxpayers would not be charged for the project. He said a “memorandum of understanding” between the town and the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation allowed the tribe to take the town road into its inventory. As a result, the cost of the project will be covered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The town received $92,576 from FEMA, of which $35,000 is reimbursement for repairs made to roads, including Lambtown and Shewville roads. Another $8,000 was to be used for “incentive pay” for Ledyard and Gales Ferry firefighters.

“Each company got some FEMA money,” Allyn said, “but not nearly enough to pay for what they did. You really can’t pay people enough for what they did.”

Compared to neighboring towns, Masalin said Ledyard got off relatively easy. And Allyn agreed.

“We were indeed lucky, although at the time we may not have recognized just how lucky we were,” he said.