Keeping an Eye on Yantic River

Emergency management officials are keeping a close eye on the Yantic River, which is already rising, and Norwich officials are setting up sandbags.

The ground is already saturated from rain water, prompting officials to fear some widespread flooding, so town officials are taking precautions.

Norwich just took receipt of a $30,000 sandbag unit, which is capable of doing 2,000 sandbags per hour," Gene Arters, director of the Norwich Director of Emergency Management, said. "Due to the repetitive storms, we will not be able to take the amount of precipitation forecast with this storm. We're in the increases-readiness phase to prepare for flooding."

The sandbags will be placed at businesses and houses near the river.

Emergency management officials are urging residents to be prepared, even those who don't live near the river, and check sump pumps and remove electrical devices and valuables from basements.

Nutmeg Companies is located right next to the river in Norwich and employees are taking precautions and set up temporary walls.

"We call it the 'frantic Yantic,' ... It comes up and down pretty fast," Everette Gawendo said.

In 2010, the company sustained losses when nearly 3 feet of water would up inside the building.

"We were basically wiped out. We had 3 feet of water in the building. Like I said, we reinforced the walls at that time. One of them gave way with 5.5 feet of water behind it,” Gawendo said.

You can monitor river levels near you through an interactive map on the National Weather Service Web site.

 

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