Conn. Flooding Report Calls for Infrastructure Investment, Staffing

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(TNS) — A major, timely report on Connecticut’s need to prepare for the types of historic flooding that devastated parts of the state last month, calls for more large-scale infrastructure investments and better local staffing with expertise in water control management.

The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities on Tuesday released a study nearly two years in the making that recommends more regional cooperation in dealing with flooding from storm-swollen creeks and rivers, as well as tidal effects from Long Island Sound.

The $100,000 report, called “Strategic Flooding Mitigation for Connecticut: Challenges and Solutions,” which was released during an hour-long briefing for news reporters, warned that Federal Emergency Management Agency water maps are outdated by decades or more. The report contains about 30 recommendations and promotes statewide standards on climate resiliency, including its budgetary implications and the importance of access to federal support for what could become massive building projects.

The CCM will use the 158-page report as a basis to develop legislative proposals when the next General Assembly meets in January. “This is an important issue,” said Randy Collins, associate director of public policy and advocacy for the CCM. “It’s not an all-or-nothing report. There’s a lot of pieces in there that provide best practices for municipalities to consider that don’t need state legislation. We can start to make progress if different communities can look at the best way locally, regionally and statewide to address these.”

The report noted that a state Senate bill on climate issues, which died at the end of the legislative session in May, had many pieces that would have helped Connecticut address the issues of flooding resiliency with enhanced local, regional and state cooperation.

“Flash flooding like we saw in August, as extreme as that was, I think the underlying take home is that can happen anywhere in Connecticut,” said Erik Mas, vice president of the engineering firm Fuss and O’Neill, which led the study. “It really is a situation where you don’t have to be along the coast. You don’t have to be down by the river to be impacted in a serious way by this intense rainfall-driven flooding. Given the increasing frequency of these storm events that can hit any part of the state, it’s a real wake-up call for the state of Connecticut.”

Last week the state pegged initial damages from the Aug. 18th and 19th flooding at more than $300 million, including the rebuilding of bridges destroyed by as much as 14 inches of rain in the Naugatuck Valley center of Oxford. The CCM said Oxford’s flood maps have not been updated since around 1979. Three deaths were linked to the flooding, including two women in Oxford and a Weston man whose body was recovered in Westport.

“Ultimately this challenge is going to be making the infrastructure more resilient,” Mas said. “A lot of the things that I think will have a very large ticket, ultimately, in the end. But I think setting up municipalities and the state of Connecticut to better take advantage of that federal funding that is out there, I think can offset some of those costs.”

During the nearly two-year study, assessment questions were sent to all 169 towns and cities and 84 responses were received, including 60 percent from towns with populations under 20,000 and 40 percent from larger communities. Slightly more than half of Naugatuck Valley communities responded to the survey, although the regional Council of Governments weighed in for the study.

Mas suggested that the state’s regional councils of governments should take major rolls in developing resiliency strategies because many smaller towns lack the personnel and expertise to navigate complex grant applications and construct flood mitigation projects. More state funding will be needed as well, along with design standards for future flood control projects similar to those being undertaken in Massachusetts, Vermont and Rhode Island, he said.

“Our infrastructure is aging and it’s not designed to carry the water flow, the storm water runoff that we’re seeing,” Mas said. “These storm events, the flooding events are increasing in frequency and intensity. I think residents understand that we have to address this issue. We can’t just ignore it and just hope that the water runs down hill. It’s going to go someplace. When we’re talking about flooding basements or commercial areas, I think residents are going to understand that hey, I don’t want the sewer backing into my neighborhood and your kid jumping in the puddle.”

Stratford Mayor Laura Hoydick, a former state lawmaker who is president of the CCM board of directors, told reporters that with a variety of state, regional and national agencies involved, officials have to navigate a literal “maze” of rules and regulations to obtain funding and loans. She said that many local leaders are observing the city of New Britain’s Storm Water Authority.

“It’s very complicated,” she said. “You have to identify the problems first, right, in order to form the solution. And that’s what we’re trying to do here. The opportunities, the resources that communities have to combat whatever the kind of flooding issues they have, whether it’s coastal, riverine, storm water. Most of us are having storm water issues. We’ve got to figure out what options are available and what we can afford.”