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Southeastern shoreline towns are cleaning up and assessing damage after the hurricane, which brought a record storm surge. WNPR’s Harriet Jones reports.
Outside his Stonington home, Gary Giramonti is wading through several feet of water.
“We left Monday morning, and just came back this morning after a neighbor said, called and told us you need to get back”
The structure, which faces Fishers’ Island sound is still standing, but the interior has been turned upside down.
“A couple inches of water in the house; heat pumps, air conditioners, propane tanks – gone, not to be seen; several windows broken, need to be replaced; sidings not the best, and just a big mess. I’m just trying to dry out, because there’s so much water – we had about 34 inches of water in the garage.”
Many shoreline homeowners in the flood zone are facing a similar scene but in places the Southeast of the state dodged the worst of what was forecast for Sandy. In New London the storm washed away Osprey Beach and caused severe erosion at Ocean Beach, but houses didn’t sustain significant damage. Emergency management director Reid Burdick is assessing damage on Pequot Avenue.
“It was pretty wild. The water came flying over the wall and brought all the debris with it. It was a pretty wild night, no doubt about that. But, we’re very fortunate – as far as I know we’ve had no serious injuries. I think a few minor bumps and scrapes but very lucky -- very, very, very lucky, despite of this pretty horrific scene.”
Donna DiPolina lives in the mandatory evacuation area of New London, but chose to wait out the storm last night. She says the water in her driveway was knee deep, but she’s glad she stayed.
“Actually we are doing wonderfully. We got a little bit of water in our basement, a couple of inches, but we didn’t lose power. So, I mean we were getting very worried last night, but I have to say we really fared very well.”
For those not flooded out the biggest issue remains power, which is being restored only slowly to Southeastern towns.
For WNPR, I'm Harriet Jones.
