Nor’easter Brings Flood Warnings and State Response to New Haven Area

New Haven County under a coastal flood warning

NEW HAVEN, CT — Connecticut’s Emergency Operations Center entered partial activation at 7 a.m. Saturday, September 26, as forecasters expected the nor’easter to deliver heavy rain and strong winds statewide through the weekend, while a coastal flood warning remained in effect for New Haven County through 6 p.m. Sunday, September 27. Gov. Ned Lamont ordered the state response on Friday, ahead of the storm.

At 12:53 p.m. Saturday the National Weather Service recorded overcast, breezy conditions at Tweed New Haven Airport, with a northeast wind of 23 mph gusting to 39 mph. Its New Haven forecast, as of early Saturday afternoon, called for rain and wind through the afternoon and overnight, with gusts as high as 46 mph, then showers and gusts to 39 mph on Sunday. The forecast put new rainfall at a tenth to a quarter of an inch Saturday afternoon, a half to three quarters of an inch overnight, three quarters of an inch to an inch on Sunday and 1 to 2 inches Sunday night, with thunderstorms possible in each period. The wind advisory runs through 6 a.m. Sunday.

The coastal flood warning covers New Haven and Fairfield counties, and coastal flood advisories cover Middlesex and New London counties, both in force from 6 p.m. Friday until 6 p.m. Sunday, September 27, the governor’s office said. The wind advisory the weather service issued for all of Connecticut began at 2 p.m. Friday and runs through Sunday morning, so the region’s inland towns are under it as well as the shoreline.

Hamden closes library and cancels outdoor activities

Hamden officials said the police, fire and public works departments were working with the town’s utility partners and town leadership through the storm. The town told residents to prepare for strong winds, fallen trees and limbs, downed lines, closed roads, outages and hazardous travel.

Hamden’s Miller Memorial Library was closed Saturday and is to reopen Monday, September 28, at its regular hours; the activities and meetings booked there for Saturday were canceled. The town also called off Saturday’s Brooksvale Fall Festival, and every league game, practice and other athletic activity on its municipal fields is off through Sunday, September 27. A movie scheduled at Villano Park on Friday evening was canceled as well.

The town asked residents to avoid unnecessary travel so cleanup crews and emergency vehicles can move, to treat every downed wire as live and keep clear of it, and to call 911 about downed wires or trees. For storm concerns that are not life-threatening, it listed the Hamden Police non-emergency line, 203-230-4000, and the Public Works Department, 203-287-2600.

State coordinates response and urges caution

The state emergency center, which works out of Hartford’s Governor William A. O’Neill State Armory, began enhanced monitoring at 10 p.m. Friday before moving to partial activation Saturday morning. State agency staff and partner liaisons are working there in person, and a virtual channel lets partners feed the center real-time information, the governor’s office said. The center is to stay activated around the clock for the duration of the storm.

The state’s emergency management plan defines a partial activation as continual coordination by emergency partners from several of the primary state agencies for as long as the storm lasts; a full activation, if one is needed, adds more agencies, which for now remain on standby. State emergency managers also held coordination calls with every municipality in Connecticut, according to the release.

“I also want to remind everyone to never drive through any flooded roadway—even if the water does not look that deep—because even just a few inches of water can stall and carry vehicles away,” Lamont said in the release. He asked residents to stay alert for updates through the weekend, “especially in Fairfield and New Haven Counties, where areas of coastal flooding are possible,” and warned that the winds could bring down trees and limbs, block roads and cause outages.

Lamont told WFSB that the timing of the rain against high tide matters more than the total. “It depends how intense the rain is not just how much we get,” he said, adding that a coastal area has to watch out if the heaviest rain coincides with high tide. He said shoreline towns may need sandbags and that a good plan for every town is to keep people off the roads, WFSB reported.

Tweed New Haven Airport expected little disruption. Based on the forecasts, “the potential for significant weather-related impacts at Tweed remains low,” Tom Cavaliere, its director of community engagement, said in a statement WFSB reported, with precautionary measures in place and passengers advised to check with their airline.

Residents can sign up for alerts through the state’s CT Alert system at ct.gov/ctalert. The state directs drivers to CTroads.org for state-road updates and advises transit riders to check with their transit operator for delays or cancellations.

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