SCOTLAND, Connecticut — Crews worked diligently Tuesday, lifting cement blocks into Merrick Brook after two bridges washed away during heavy rain last Wednesday in Scotland, CT.
For the six families stranded between the two bridges, it’s a relief that couldn’t come fast enough.
“The very long trek of a walk. It’s a lot of work and I mean every day, we’re having to walk down there because we have to go shopping or we’ve got to go somewhere else and do something else,” said Kimberly Harper.
A crater remains where a bridge stood one week ago before Windham County was slammed with heavy rain and high winds that washed away three bridges.
Both bridges led to Kimberly Harper’s home. She was stranded for a few days. Since then, she’s been walking past rubble and washed-away road.
“Walking down there with my daughter, it was a little bit hard because I’m trying to push her in the stroller and I can’t really see,” Harper said. “The rain and we just got the flooding. It’s definitely not safe to be walking.”
First Selectman Gary Greenberg withdrew a request for help from the National Guard after he said it took too long and got too complicated to move forward with a bridge replacement.
Greenberg then worked with the State Department of Transportation (DOT) to install a temporary ramp Tuesday after Merrick Brook overflowed last Wednesday.
“We’re doing what we can to take care of them. Normally, it isn’t quite this difficult,” said Scotland First Selectman Gary Greenberg. “This is obviously a makeshift arrangement. We’re working hard to make it safe by putting concrete blocks underneath it, on the other side.”
The ramp is meant for use during daylight hours only, Greenberg said.
It’s being paid for with dollars allocated for town operations, which he said won’t add up for long.
“We’re looking to the state for some money,” he said.
Harper’s just happy she’ll no longer have to carry children over washed-out roads.
“I wasn’t expecting it to be this fast,” she said.
Samaia Hernandez is a reporter for FOX61 News. She can be reached at shernandez@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, X, and Instagram.
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