Malloy on Monday: State Not Out of Woods Yet; “The Bad News Is The Worst Is Still To Come” On Flooding

Even though central Connecticut and the Hartford region had fewer power outages than expected by Monday evening, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said the worst was yet to come for the shoreline towns facing major flooding.

“We’re about halfway through the storm, and I would say we’re holding our own,” Malloy said during a televised news conference at 6 p.m. Monday. ”That’s the good news. The bad news is the worst is still to come.”

Malloy was correct as water came pouring onto Beach Street and Ocean Avenue along Long Island Sound in West Haven – four hours before the expected high tide at 11:30 p.m. Monday. Some houses along the street were being threatened as the surging water came closer and closer in the darkness. Residents reported that the surge was worse – and the water was higher – than during last year’s storms. The city’s mayor and emergency management director were surveying the damage in the darkness Monday night as the water continued rushing forward.

Malloy later held a conference call at about 8:15 p.m. with mayors and first selectmen along the shoreline because of the expectation of heavy flooding at high tide as midnight approached.

The waterfront areas in jeopardy stretched from Greenwich to Bridgeport and from West Haven to Old Saybrook.

“I’ve told the mayors and first selectmen that they have no time to waste,” Malloy said in a statement Monday night. “To the extent they have the ability to order mandatory evacuations, I’ve told them they must give this their highest priority.  I was concerned all along about the potential destructive impact of this last high tide, and unfortunately the best information we have confirms my worst fears.”

“I’m concerned about all these towns, but I’m especially concerned about the towns from Greenwich to Bridgeport,” Malloy said. “Those are municipalities with large population centers that are in harm’s way.  I told those municipal leaders that these people need to be evacuated, and I they need to be evacuated now. The situation is dire.”

Statewide, the number of homes without electricity continued to spike as the day wore on. But the good news was the Connecticut Light & Power Company had restored 28,500 customers who had lost their power as of 6 p.m. Many of those power restorations came in the western part of the state, where the wind gusts were lower and the workers were able to do their jobs in bucket trucks.

“We are expecting power outages to increase,” Malloy said, adding that the outages are across the state with the highest in southeastern Connecticut.

“If you have lost your power, you’re likely to be without power for an extended period of time,” Malloy said. “Even if you haven’t lost your power, if it goes, and when it goes, it’s going to be out for a long period of time.”

Malloy issued a stern warning to state residents.

“Unless your life depends on your leaving your home, then don’t,” Malloy said.

Statewide, there were at least 40 road closings with about half due to flooding and half due to downed trees. Some trees were down on the Merritt Parkway, a critical highway throughout lower Fairfield County.

The high tide on Monday night is expected to leave the state “vulnerable to record flooding” from Greenwich to Stonington, Malloy said. United Illuminating will be de-energizing three substations in its service area, knocking out 52,000 residential and business customers by around 8 p.m. Of those, about 45,000 customers are in Bridgeport, including businesses in the downtown area.

The storm has had some silver linings as some Hartford residents and those in the surrounding suburbs expected that the rain would be heavier and the power would go out much earlier.

Southeastern Connecticut has been hit the hardest, particularly in shoreline towns like Stonington and Clinton.

“We thought these highest winds, initially, would last until about 3 a.m.,” Malloy said Monday. “We believe these highest winds will end earlier than that. The earlier they end, the better for all of us. We’re looking at models that start to see an easing off as early as 10 o’clock. ”

When asked if the state had dodged a bullet in any way because of the lower rainfall in central Connecticut, Malloy said, “The rainfall, we knew about 48 hours ago, with landfall expected in New Jersey, we realized we would not be on the higher rain side of this. … But we knew 48 hours ago, as opposed to our 7 to 14 inches, that we were going to be on the low side. With respect to the winds, we were on the losing side. That has been our concern – that, in combination with the full-moon tides and the surge that a storm of this size produces. ”

By Monday evening, CL&P was close to completing the emergency construction of a six-foot tall concrete wall around a substation in Stamford to prevent flooding, said Bill Quinlan, the senior vice president for the company that serves 1.2 million customers in 149 towns across the state.

“Our hope is we don’t have to de-energize Stamford or Branford,” Quinlan said of the two substations along the shoreline that were subject to potential flooding.

In West Haven, Lynn G. Hollister said it was a scary scene as the water kept coming closer on Baldwin Street near Ocean Avenue.

“This is my family home,” Hollister said in a telephone interview. “This is where I grew up. I’m a little nervous about this one, but we’re not leaving. It is scary. Everyone is looking out for each other. The houses right on the water, the people have left. We’re doing the best we can.’’

State Rep. Stephen Dargan, a veteran of more than 20 years in the legislature, said that some homeowners could lose their homes off Ocean Avenue as the water kept rising – four hours before high tide was expected at 11:30 p.m. Monday.

“This is a lot worse than last year, already,” Dargan said at about 7:30 p.m. “We could lose some homes here. I’ve never seen it up this high. We don’t have the rain. We just have the surge. It’s actually scary. Last year was bad. This surge is a lot worse.’’