Torrington Road Washed Away by Heavy Rain

Cleanup is underway in Torrington after heavy rains led caused a big mess.  At least one residential road was washed out, and several homes were flooded.
 
 Cell phone video captured water as it gushed out of Harpswell Street near Downtown Torrington, after 3 weeks’ worth of rain fell in just a few hours.
 
“Absolutely unbelievable,” said Joe Salvati.  It was too much for the storm pipe to handle.  The force underground was so strong, it tore off a manhole cover.  All that water rushed through the roadway, and caused it to cave in. “I can’t get out of my house, I can’t get into my house now my neighbor can’t get out of her house either,” Salvati explained.
 
That water raced downhill, and flooded a handful of homes on Tioga Street just yards away.

“I looked up the hill you could see water shooting up 4 feet in the air,” said Ron Fondo.  His place was right in its path.  He snapped several pictures that showed his property submerged in water minutes later. 

His driveway ended up buckling. “It was going on the deck, it was cascading over the deck, going through here it flooded out the people behind us…it was just like a river,” Fondo added.
 
Neighbors said  the same pipe caused problems on this street during the last few storms, and they claimed they begged the town for help.

“The town's response initially was we will get to it when we can,” Joe Salvati said.
 
The Public Works Director told NBC Connecticut, he knew the storm pipe was an issue, and said engineers were looking for an issue.  He hoped to have some answers in the next few weeks.
 
Meanwhile people who live here said they needed something to change before this happens again. “A bunch of us are going to the town tomorrow and demand them to do something proactive rather than just wait for the rest of our street to get washed away,” Salvati added.
 
Workers planned to be on Harpswell Street on Thursday to fix the roadway so it is safe to drive on.

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