SOUTHBURY, Conn. — Southbury residents are praising construction crews for their tireless work to restore their road in the aftermath of severe flooding.
Georges Hill Road in Simsbury, where a tornado previously tore up the landscape in 2018, collapsed into a raging Kettletown Brook due to the flooding eight days ago. It has since been rebuilt.
The sentiment of Southbury residents is that some heroes may wear capes but others wear vests and hardhats.
“I knew I would forget his last name. But I wouldn’t forget what he did for us,” said resident Claudia Chapman.
Chapman created a contact in her phone after meeting the man who spearheaded the rebuilding operation. She jotted down his first name and put "HERO" for his title.
“What they did was truly amazing,” added Burke Lewis of Southbury. “Round the clock, round the clock three days in a row,” said neighbor Barbara Fox.
Just eight days ago, Georges Hill Road in Southbury wasn’t much of a road at all.
“You know the cliché, oh they worked day and night? They worked day and night,” said Chapman.
Frank Lasky of FSM Services is the man who spearheaded the rebuilding operation. He was contracted by the DOT to repair the state road.
“Oh this was bad,” said Lasky. “There was about 700 feet of road that was about 30 feet wide and about eight feet deep. The stream was nowhere near where it was supposed to be. It was in the road. It was pretty amazing.”
Lasky and his team of eight men had to reroute the stream bed of Kettletown Brook itself. They rebuilt the embankment, sourced and hauled the material and graded and packed the surface. But it's what Lasky did that the project didn’t require that made the most impact.
“When you see people walking through the brook with their children, it makes you think a little bit,” said Lasky.
Frank and his team built a new road to connect residents who lost their private bridge, which was their only means of exit. Now, there’s a new bridge. For Chapman, that road brought new connections in more ways than one.
“I’ve made so many new friends on the street. I’ve learned so much about my neighbors," Chapman said. "It’s the same wonderful feeling of everyone coming together.”
Southbury residents are thankful that they have set up a hospitality tent to keep the construction crew fed and hydrated.
“Trying to make it a little easier because these guys are fantastic, FSM is the best,” said Fox.
“They come down and get us to come up and eat. Every time I turn around there is food here,” said Lasky.
Lasky noted that the hardest part of the project was working within state environmental guidelines, since Kettletown Brook is a protected waterway. All that’s left is paving and installing the new guardrail. Lasky hopes to wrap up the project by Monday night.
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Matt Caron is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at mcaron@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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