Wyman, Blumenthal eyeball Bristol

Two of the state’s most prominent politicians came to Bristol on Wednesday to see for themselves the damage caused by Tropical Storm Irene.
Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal each vowed to seek help for battered Bristol.
Blumenthal said he will be “fighting for Connecticut, fighting for Bristol” to make sure the Federal Emergency Management Agency provides the assistance and funding necessary to deal with the devastation caused by the storm.
Several FEMA officials have been in town this week to assess damages and advise the city on how best to seek reimbursement.
City officials said they anticipate that a large amount of federal money will ultimately flow to Bristol but only after a staggering amount of paperwork is completed.  Click here to read the whole story.
Copyright 2011. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Farrell Avenue collapse could cost $2 million

At the height of Sunday’s storm, a big chunk of Farrell Avenue collapsed into a ravine, causing about 50 feet of the roadway to vanish down the hill.

City officials are still trying to figure out what happened and how to fix it, but they are already sure that repairing the damage will cost $2 million or more.

Standing on the edge of the precipice with U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal Wednesday, Mayor Art Ward said, "That’s what you call a sinkhole."

"That’s what you call a disaster," Blumenthal responded.

He said that a picture of the collapsed roadway will be "exhibit A" in making the case for federal aid.

"This speaks volumes about the force and the fury of the storm," Blumenthal said.  See the whole story.

Copyright 2011. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Community tackles hurricane cleanup

Tulip Street during the storm
Photo by Ken Cockayne, used with permission

The mess created by Tropical Storm Irene is going to take many days to clean up.
When the gushing water that flowed through low-lying sections of town Sunday dried up, it left behind a sea of sand, piles of debris and one wrecked building that city officials ordered demolished within 48 hours.
Mayor Art Ward said there’s “a little despair” among some drenched homeowners and soaked businesses, “but everybody’s got that can-do attitude” required to tackle the massive cleanup.
“We’ll do what we have to do and put the community back together again,” Ward said Monday. Click here for the rest of the story.

Former Stately Floors building, during the flood
Photo by Ken Cockayne, used with permission.

Also see: The former Stately Floors building must be torn down. Below are a couple of pictures that Christopher MacNeill took of the place, used with permission.

Copyright 2011. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Larson still seeks flood control money for Bristol

U.S. Rep. John Larson, the East Hartford Democrat whose district includes Bristol, explains what happened to his effort to secure federal funding for a study of how best to deal with flooding in Bristol:



Copyright 2011. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

One in 10 still without power in Bristol

BRISTOL -- More than 10 percent of the city's residents are still without electricity in the wake of Hurricane Irene.
Connecticut Light & Power reports this morning that almost 3,200 city residents are still experiencing an outage following the powerful hurricane.
At one point, almost a third of the city was without power so progress is clearly being made.
Mayor Art Ward said city crews and utility company employees have been working diligently to get things back to normal.
"They worked all night," the mayor said.
CL&P has estimated it may take a week to get all of its customers in Connecticut back to full service. But most residents in Bristol can expect to see their electricity back on much sooner.


Copyright 2011. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

City vowed to help with flooding, but didn't

Flooding at Rockwell Park.
Photo by Christopher MacNeill, used with permission.

BRISTOL – There’s a simple reason why there’s so much flooding along the Pequabuck River and Copper Mine Brook whenever a heavy rain hits: there’s no place for all the water to go.

All of the rain that falls on Bristol, much of Burlington and big parts of both Plymouth and Harwinton winds up pouring into those two relatively small streams.

Thanks to unchecked development over many years, which turned open space into pavement, the water that falls tends to flow downhill quickly into already strained streams that soon become raging torrents that flow down city streets and through residents’ basements.

It makes for a costly, discouraging mess every time it happens. This year, it also proved deadly, with Hurricane Irene’s floodwaters carrying one man off to his doom.

But after a spate of four major floods between 2004 and 2007, the city vowed to take action.

Officials discovered that the City Council was responsible for dealing with flooding in Bristol and it moved to hold special sessions monthly to tackle the issue.

But about the time Mayor Art Ward took office in 2007, the momentum stalled for the same reason government often drags to a halt: money.  Click here for the rest of the story.

Also, the missing canoer has been found dead.

Copyright 2011. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Canoe flips in Forestville, one or two missing

Witnesses in Forestville say a canoe flipped and dumped two people into the water. They are missing.


More details soon.Update: Bristol, CT Fire Dept. page on Facebook has this: "Update-Rescue in progress in Forestville overtuned canoe 2 people swept away 1 person is ok the other is unaccounted for! Bristol Fire is on scene with Plainville fire just happend!"
New update: It appears only one man is missing.CJ Tyler of Bristol said he saw a canoe slam into the bridge beside Nuchies restaurant in Forestville, dumping the men inside into the raging waters. One apparently dragged himself out while the other is missing."It was crazy," Tyler said on his Facebook page.
*****Copyright 2011. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Bristol Police: Stay home, everybody!

Message from Bristol Police Department:


HURRICANE IRENE REMINDER - Please limit your travels throughout the city. Many intersections are closed, wires & trees down. Many dangerous spots throughout city. Avoid walking in damaged sections taking photos. Chippens Hill Middle School is the designated shelter. Do not drive through standing water. 911 - Emergencies only! Stay Safe.

Farrell Avenue, off Barlow Street
Photo by Michele Woike Zipke, used with permission

*****Copyright 2011. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

More Photos of Bristol Flooding

Frederick Street bridge area
Photo by Craig Minor, used with permission.

Laura Minor just sent a brief report from Forestville:"The Copper Mine Brook has flooded and is covering Frederick and West Washington. Houses are ruined two blocks from us. There is no way to get from our side of town through to downtown Bristol easily. Forestviille Center is flooded also as is Mix St./Rte. 6. I've never seen anything like this. Water is rising and the wind is strong. We watched a big branch go down which luckily didn't hit anything." 
Brenda Martin took photos all over town that really capture some of the flooding woes. Here they are:

Also see this video someone posted on YouTube:


Also see the previous links:FloodingMore flooding
Copyright 2011. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

More flooding in Bristol (updated)

Middle Street at Riverside Avenue.
Photo by Vanessa Larence, used with permission.

BRISTOL -- Much of Bristol is underwater today.
From Muzzy Field to Forestville Center, the Pequabuck River has claimed a new, wider course that takes it down city streets, through buildings and beyond.
The rain falling from Hurricane Irene has swollen the river and inundated dozens of cars, partially destroyed the Stately Floors building at the end of Memorial Boulevard and soaked countless basements.
Copper Mine Brook and other tributaries are also overflowing their banks, creating torrents all over town. Police have closed a number of city streets, making it difficult to get around, and emergency crews are working in many locations to deal with downed wires, stranded residents and the chaos of a major storm.
Please check this link for pictures and video.

Here are some more photos by Vanessa Lawrence:

Flooded Farmington Avenue intersection near Staples.

Memorial Boulevard

Broad Street

TERRYVILLE -- Rising water has breached Preston Dam, as the picture below by Ryan Woike makes clear:

Here are some photos by Aaron Vontell of the area near the west end of Memorial Boulevard:

*****
Copyright 2011. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Hurricane causes major flooding in Bristol

 Video of flooding in Forestville Center by Alisha Lee Yard, who shared it on YouTube. 

Photo in Forestville by Kim Keegan, used with permission.

To nobody's surprise, the heavy rains caused by Hurricane Irene have caused significant flooding in low-lying parts of Bristol.Memorial Boulevard "is like a river," said Henry Raymond, and the school playing field there reminds him of a lake.

Forestville Center.
Photo by Joe Mudry, used with permission.

East Main Street is under 4 feet of water. Police have ordered residents to evacuate.Stately Floors, which was getting hammered by water this morning, has partially collapsed. It sits astride the Pequabuck River on the western end of Memorial Boulevard.One fifth of the city's 29,439 customer of Connecticut Light & Power are without electricity this morning, according to the utility.Flooding is heavy in all of the areas of town that traditionally experience problems during heavy storms, including Forestville, the area from Brook Street north toward the Little League complex on Mix Street and along the Copper Mine Brook.But residents report they can still get around.Raymond managed to get out for breakfast at Crystal's, which he said he was glad to find open.

Water flowing through the parking lot at Staples on Route 6.
Photo by Ashley Elizabeth. Used with permission. 

Sue Roesch said there are lots of branches and leaves down on Federal Hill, but the damage doesn't compare to Hurricane Bob two decades ago."This is pretty mild compared to that," Roesch said.Raymond took a tour of some of the troubled areas. Here are some photographs he took this morning:

The Stately Floors building at the western end of Memorial Boulevard.

A shed on Frederick Street.

Memorial Boulevard area.

The walkway at Napco on Riverside Avenue.

Forestville Center.

Car inundated on Frederick Street. 

Car inundated on Frederick Street. 

Forestville Center

Parking lot between Memorial Boulevard School and the parkway.

Tree down in Bristol. Photo by Jazzya Rivera, used with  permission.

Here's a link to some more flooding video in Bristol. 
Channel 3 days a dam in Terryville has been breached.
For more on the flooding, please see www.BristolPress.com
Copyright 2011. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com