Flooding causes partial dam break in Norwich, evacuation of residents

Flooding from heavy rains overnight and melting snow caused a partial dam break Wednesday in Norwich, prompting the evacuation of about 500 people, and the closure of numerous roads throughout Connecticut.

The partial dam break was reported on the Yantic River north of the Bean Hill Substation, leading to the substation needing to be taken offline and a disruption to power for about 5,000 customers, according to Norwich Public Utilities. The substation needed to be taken offline to avoid “potentially catastrophic damage to our infrastructure,” the public energy provider said.

According to the Connecticut Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, residents on nearby Stockhouse Road in Bozrah were evacuated as a precaution because of the incident at the Fitchville Pond Dam.

Norwich declared a local emergency Wednesday that required the evacuation of several homes and businesses in the Yantic section of the city.

“The city manager has determined that the Yantic River Flood Zone must be evacuated to protect the life and safety of residents in the area along the Yantic River from the Bozrah Line to the Uncas Falls in Downtown Norwich,” Norwich Public Utilities said in a statement. “The city has made Kelly Middle School available as an emergency shelter. The Red Cross is already stationed at the school and will be able to manage several hundred residents.”

Residents and business owners were advised that they may be displaced for several days.

Fire crews on Wednesday used a small boat to rescue two people stuck in a Dominos in Norwich that was severely flooded.

Chuck Lee, assistant director of dam safety programs at the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, said at a news conference Wednesday that officials were notified around 5:30 a.m. that the left abutment was leaking from the dam.

“Something we hadn’t seen before, so we took this very seriously, came down on site,” Lee said.

“It did not over wash, it leaked through the left abutment,” Lee said.

Lee said the leak was concerning enough to prompt the evacuation order in Bozrah and Norwich. He said temporary actions taken prior to the next storm — expected to bring more rainfall to Connecticut Friday and Saturday — will include putting in a cofferdam with super sacks of sand and pumping out water behind the sacks, allowing crews a chance to better inspect the damage and assess any repair needs. Lee described a cofferdam as a “dam in front of the dam.”

According to officials, the Yantic River measured at about 14 feet Wednesday, a level it has not reached since the 1930s.

During the afternoon news conference, Lee said he couldn’t rule out further evacuations.

Norwich City Manager John Salomone said at the same news briefing the substation that was taken offline will need to be powered back up before residents in the area can get electricity restored. The stability of the dam will dictate when that could happen, he said.

Repowering the substation could lead to an explosion and the station being offline for months if it were to be infiltrated by water, according to Salomone.

“We won’t do that until we have the all-clear from the state,” Salomone said.

People can return to their homes and will have their power restored once it is verified that the dam is stable, Salomone said.

According to Lee, privately owned dams, like the one that leaked Wednesday — which officials said is owned by Seymour’s Sand and Gravel in Bozrah — have to be inspected every two years by a professional engineer before a report is submitted to DEEP for a review.

The dam on the Yantic River has been monitored during prior storms because of previous issues, according to Lee, who added that officials from DEEP took it upon themselves to inspect the dam a couple of years ago.

Officials at the news briefing Wednesday afternoon said water levels had starting to recede, giving crews a window of time to potentially put engineering measures in place before additional rain hits the area later in the week.

“Hopefully this dam will not go,” Norwich Mayor Peter Nystrom said at the news conference. “That’s our biggest fear right now.”

“We’re just hoping for the best, that is, no more activity here and continue downgrading the height of the river,” Nystrom said.

Nystrom said he visited Uncas Leap earlier Wednesday and had “never seen the water that high.”

“It’s almost up to the train trestle underneath,” Nystrom said. “Never seen that level ever in my lifetime.”

According to Gov. Ned Lamont, who visited the flooding site Wednesday and spoke at the subsequent news briefing, the dam on the Yantic River was built in 1840s and was “rebuilt” in the 1880s. The governor said it is among about 4,000 older dams throughout Connecticut.

“It’s just remarkable,” Gov. Ned Lamont said. “People are telling me they’ve never seen Yantic River as full as it is today.”

“Right now it looks like that risk is mitigating, but you can’t be too careful,” Lamont said.

Flooding reported across various areas in the state came following heavy rains overnight Tuesday and into Wednesday that were preceded by a winter storm that dumped several inches of snow to much of Connecticut over the weekend. According to the National Weather Service, somewhere between 2 and 4 inches of rain fell throughout the state.

The NWS issued a flood warning Wednesday for Hartford and Tolland Counties. The warning included the Farmington River and the Pawcatuck River, which runs along the Connecticut border with Rhode Island.

The NWS also warned that the flooding of smaller rivers, streams and other low-lying and flood-prone locations is imminent. The Quinnipiac River in Southington was still rising as of the early afternoon hours on Wednesday and was very close to major flooding, the NWS wrote in a bulletin.

“Runoff from the earlier heavy rain and snowmelt will continue to result in flooding of small rivers and streams,” the NWS said. “Many gages continue to indicate smaller rivers and streams still rising.”

Melting snow and heavy rains combined to cause flooding on numerous municipal and state roads, leading to several road closures.

According to the state Department of Transportation, state roads closed Wednesday morning because of flooding included portions of Route 10 in Southington, Route 75 in Windsor, Route 54 in Redding, Route 806 in Danbury, Route 7 in New Milford, Route 317 in Roxbury, Route 171 in Woodstock, Route 101 in Pomfret, Route 85 in Heron, Routes 207 and 289 in Lebanon, Routes 82 and 354 in Salem, Route 32 in Franklin, Route 7 in Ridgefield, Route 97 in Sprague, Route 151 in East Hampton, Route 202 in Washington, Route 163 in Bozrah, Route 169 in Lisbon, Route 47 in Woodbury and Route 207 in Redding.

A number of schools were closed Wednesday, including those in Bozrah, Danbury, Franklin and Norwich.

According to Deputy Superintendent of Bristol Public Schools Michael Dietter, school closings in his district included Bristol Eastern High School and Bristol Central High School, Bristol Arts and Innovation Magnet School, Bristol Preparatory Academy, Northeast Middle School and Chippens Hill Middle School. Other schools in the city operated on a two-hour delay.

Schools in Bethel, East Haddam and Preston also had a two-hour delay.

As of late Wednesday morning, Eversource reported that 5,948 of its customers were without power. This included 1,257 customers in Canton. The energy company serves 1,308,153 in Connecticut.

Earlier this week, Eversource President of Electric Operations in Connecticut Steve Sullivan said the heavy rains and melting snow on grounds that were already saturated, combined with strong wind gusts, would likely cause downed trees and limbs onto power lines. Hundreds of line and tree crews were prepositioned around the state in advance of the storm, according to Eversource.

United Illuminating reported 31 customers without power late Wednesday morning, including 10 in Milford. The power company serves 344,590 customers in Connecticut.

The National Weather Service said another 1 to 2 inches of rainfall expected late Friday and into Saturday could further complicate matters. A flood watch in Hartford, Tolland and Windham Counties has been extended through Saturday.

“This may exacerbate current river and stream flooding and/or result in additional flooding,” the NWS wrote in a bulletin.