MERIDEN, Conn. — So much rain fell in such a short amount of time Monday that stormwater systems became overwhelmed in Meriden. The heavy rain flooded streets while the powerful winds brought down trees and power lines.
Meriden’s Emergency Operations Center was set up at the police department. It was open all day to keep an eye on the community and to make it easier for officials to coordinate with tree crews and Eversource power line crews.
Summer Street in Meriden was converted into a waterfront property Monday. It’s notorious for flooding.
Just four months ago, in August, our cameras captured a flotilla of trash on Summer Street caused by heavy rain.
“Overnight we did get not only high winds but a large amount of rain in a rather short period of time which causes these flooding issues. It’s not unique to Meriden but Meriden does have a history of flood-prone areas,” said Meriden Mayor Kevin Scarpati.
As streets became flooded Monday morning, social media quickly followed suit. Forums were flooded with images of the aftermath, from a backyard flooded on Newton Street to a blocked culvert on Lyman Ave.
Parking lots and property were turned into ponds across the silver city, but the flooding wasn’t the only problem. “60-MPH wind. The tree fell down and it knocked over the pole,” said Luis Soto of Meriden.
The high winds overnight knocked down trees at the corner of Broad and Brittania Streets, knocking out power to the nearby Nathan Hale Elementary School.
The school secured some generator power and kept the kids in the gym but they were dismissed early. Parents told FOX61 they wish the district made an earlier decision to cancel.
“Absolutely. They were not ready for what happened and were clearly here at noon picking them up,” said Jennyfer Massari of Meriden.
Monday’s storm packed a punch, the Eversource map showed few communities were spared from outages.
“I think the only good reason they had school is maybe if other kids had their house out of power it gives them a safe place to be but yeah, we could have canceled today,” Amber Collins added.
Mayor Scarpati told FOX61 he thinks it was ultimately the right decision to have school, noting that kids rely on the schools to be fed a meal. He also noted that by the time Nathan Hale lost power, kids were already on buses and teachers were already in the classroom.
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