Videoshowsman driving boat down flooded Bristol street
Jul. 16—The heavy rain caused the National Weather Service to issue a flood advisory for the state. The weather service also issued flash-flood warnings for several towns around Hartford and western Tolland counties.
Several people were rescued from their stranded vehicles as of late morning, the Bristol Firefighters Association reported.
The floodwater seeped into Dufresne's basement and car, she said.
"Lots of plans changed (on Sunday)," she told Hearst Connecticut Media via Messenger. "Today is my birthday. We were going to head out and do something, instead we are home sucking water out of the basement and putting a claim in for my car."
Dufresne said she is "making the best of it." The water had receded by 3 p.m. and caused no major damage to her home, she said.
Her video was posted by WFSB Channel 3 and many users posted amused comments.
But according to Mark Vining, the founder of Boat Safe Connecticut, which teaches boating courses in the state, driving boats on floodwater after a disaster is unsafe due to potential underwater hazards and lack of knowledge about the water's depth, he said. Members of rescue teams receive special training and wear life jackets and other equipment on boats to carry out missions, he said.
"There's a smarter way to go boating, where the risks of striking something underwater or colliding with a hidden object or getting swept away by flowing water are a whole lot less prevalent," he said.
Connecticut is experiencing its fourth wettest July on record, Gary Lessor, chief meteorologist at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, told Hearst Connecticut Media. The first 16 days of July would be the wettest on record for the Hartford area, he said.
A tornado watch was in effect on Sunday for all of Connecticut except for Hartford and Litchfield counties until mid-afternoon, according to the weather service. The NWS forecast severe thunderstorms in eastern Hartford County, northwestern Windham County and Tolland County.
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