STONINGTON, Conn. — Heavy rain doesn't simply flood streets and basements. It could bring Connecticut's shellfish industry to a halt.
"The bureau of aquaculture will shut down all the beds," said Nancy Follini, co-owner of the Briarpatch Shellfish Company, which farms and harvests clams, oysters and scallops from Milford to Stonington.
"Down along the Sound, we have the influence of the Housatonic River, we have the influence of the Quinnipiac River and even up here we have the influence of the Connecticut River," Follini said.
And what happens up river and flows toward the mouth will determine whether their business is shut down for perhaps as much as a week, which is more likely if we top three inches of rain from this nor'easter.
"They [the state] will go out and take meat samples," Follini said. "After four, five days they’ll ask our boats to go out and get some more meat samples."
Businesses from wholesalers to retail seafood markets and restaurants would be impacted.
But one business has been able to exhale.
"It has been a struggle," said Jonathan Edwards, owner of Jonathan Edwards Winery in North Stonington.
Fortunately, they harvested their grapes last week, ahead of this storm. But, this year's crop was impacted by the rainy summer.
"Maybe not as much sugar as we love in the grapes but that’s where the winemaking can come in try to try to make things work out perfectly," Edwards added.
Preparing for this nor'easter was not been as intense as past rainstorms for New London, at least in one respect.
For years, New London's Bank St. was impacted by heavy rains, often resulting in vehicles being swallowed up by rapidly rising waters due to drainage issues. But, that was not among the worries the city faced as the nor'easter started to dump heavy rain Tuesday. That is thanks to work carried out by a private contractor.
"They’ve done a very good job in replacing the major pumps for discharging the water," said Dave DeNoia, the Associate Director of Public Works for New London.
That same contractor is also teaming up with the city to keep storm water grates free of debris, especially fallen leaves.
"As the leaves come down and they wash off the yard and wash into the street then they head right for the storm drains," DeNoia said. "So it’s going to be a never-ending process."
Tony Terzi is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at tterzi@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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