News
Monday, November 19, 2012
Shoreline Communities Address Repeated Flooding
By Jan Ellen Spiegel
www.ctmirror.orgGuilford—On a damp, dreary post-Sandy, post-add-insult-to-injury snowstorm afternoon, Guilford Town Planner George Kral surveyed the intersection of state road 146, also called Leetes Island Road, and Sachem’s Head Road.
“It floods at extreme high tides under normal conditions and it floods even more significantly during storms,” he said, pointing to where 146 runs under a railroad bridge adjacent to a salt marsh. “During the recent Sandy, that road was closed under that bridge for several days because of the high water.”
The high water there and elsewhere along the salt marshes that snake through town meant a number of neighborhoods were cut off from the rest of Guilford, leaving those who stayed in them at risk since first responders likely would be unable to reach them.
Guilford, like many shoreline communities, is painfully aware of the effects on infrastructure of increased incidents of severe weather coupled with the sea level rise apparent in Long Island Sound. But it’s struggling with how to address recurring flooding and, more to the point after two devastating storms, Irene and Sandy, in 14 months—how quickly.
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