OXFORD, Connecticut — Since Sunday’s historic storm in southwestern Connecticut, there have been dozens of stories told about rescue efforts that took place throughout the afternoon and evening.
Despite the efforts of first responders, two of those scenarios turned deadly. Police said 65-year-old Ethelyn Joiner and 71-year-old Audrey Rostkowski died after being swept away by floodwaters in separate incidents.
While efforts to get in touch with Joiner’s family have been unsuccessful, Rostkowski’s husband shared a photo of his late wife. He said she was a lover of animals and nature, who owned her own dog grooming business, which operated out of their home. He said she just retired from that job not too long ago.
“Firefighters who attempted to rescue both of the women that are deceased, to see them not be able to effectuate that rescue, that’s tough on anybody mentally,” said Oxford’s First Selectman, George Temple.
In one of the rescues, a group of good Samaritans got involved. FOX61 spoke exclusively with them.
“It was a joint effort between a lot of different people, and we all just pitched in. And I think that’s what the people of Oxford need to do now, is pitch in and help each other,” said Michael Ronalter, who was driving on Oxford Road on Sunday when the water levels started to rise rapidly.
“It was pretty scary and overwhelming,” Michael said.
Michael was with his daughter, Emily, driving home after shopping at the nearby Goodwill.
“On our way back, we didn’t realize it would be that bad, and we all started getting the warning on our phone and all of a sudden, at one point, we thought our car was going to float,” said Emily Ronalter.
After briefly getting stuck behind another car, Michael said he had to think fast.
“I’m trying to like, find the safest spot to like pull over, but I couldn’t because there’s water building up everywhere. So, I ended up just pulling up someone’s driveway,” he said.
While his daughter stayed in the driveway, Michael noticed a woman struggling in a nearby car, with firefighters tethered to a rope, trying to save her. At one point, he said a firefighter was getting pulled under the water.
“They were doing their very best to try to save her,” Michael said. “I jumped up and ran out to try to help pull him in. The poor guy was blue. He didn’t look good and finally, he was able to come to,” Michael said.
Oxford’s fire chief confirmed Monday that firefighter is recovering from what he said are minor injuries.
“Those poor firemen, I mean, we’re talking about young volunteers who have never and, hopefully, will never see something like that again. Those are the true heroes,” Michael said.
After her father was done helping first responders, Emily said she was relieved to see him come back to his car. But when she learned the victim didn’t make it out, she said the feeling was indescribable.
“There’s definitely a little bit of like, survivors guilt in that sense too because, we might have been this close to saving them. Even the firefighters, too, that were there,” Emily said.
Michael said he hopes to one day meet the firefighters he worked with that night and thank them for their efforts. Now, he’s worried about the Oxford community and how they will recover.
“It was pretty devastating, and nobody could have expected what happened. I thought it was just a bad rainstorm,” Michael said. “If I didn’t decide to turn up that driveway, I don’t know what would have happened.”
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Julia LeBlanc is a reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at jleblanc@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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