West Haven Prepares for Hurricane Joaquin

John Izzo’s pictures from past storms show the potential for flooding along the shoreline.

“Here look at this,” Izzo said, pointing at an old photo, “the dumpster was floating.”

While the exact path of Hurricane Joaquin is unknown, flooding is a main concern in communities that felt the brunt of Sandy and Irene.

Some boat owners aren’t taking any chances. As the owner of Marine General, Izzo was busy Wednesday pulling their boats out of the water.

“Why stay in for two more weeks and risk it,” Izzo said. “It is like we’re done, take me out. Put it away. And again, it is the prudent thing to do.”

The morning rain on Wednesday left standing water along a stretch of Beach Street. Federal funds were allocated following Sandy and Irene to raise the portion of the road by five feet, West Haven Deputy Fire Chief Scott Schwartz told NBC Connecticut. This shoreline improvement is still in the design phase.

“We’re a little bit lower with the waters that came in from the last storms,” Dep. Chief Schwartz said. “Last storms, we’ve lost a lot of the beaches.”

Schwartz said first responders now better understand how the tides push inland after Sandy and Irene.

“It was a lot of the high tides were pushed in and they were held in for long periods of time,” he said, “where we did get a lot of water rise in areas that we hadn’t had water rising before.”

Wayne Capone owns Stowe’s Seafood just steps away from the beach in West Haven.

"On a sunny day we’re busy,” Capone said, “on a rainy day, not so much."

Capone would rather know sooner than later what Joaquin’s impact will be on the Connecticut Coast.

“I have to order fresh fish,” he said, “so I go day-to-day and keep watching."

Capone remembers in 1985 during Hurricane Gloria when the tidal surge reached the top of his roof. He said a sand dune has helped during the past two storms, but the water was still able to rush through an opening during Irene and Sandy.

“It would be different if the dunes ran the whole length of West Haven,” Capone said.

During Sandy, Capone said Stowe’s lost power for seven days.

“I plan on losing power,” he said, “just because it usually happens.”

As West Haven’s Emergency Management Director, Dep. Chief Schwartz is closely tracking Joaquin’s movement.

“We’re just trying to keep our people that are along the coast safe,” Schwartz said. “When we do reverse 911s and we’re giving you good information, if we’re asking you to get off the shoreline and move to an inland location, we ask that you do that.”

Capone just hopes Joaquin spares the West Haven portion of the Atlantic Coast.

"You know, you prepare for the worst and hope for the best,” Capone said, “it is a corny statement, but it is really true."

From decades of living along the shoreline, Izzo knows once a storm rolls in, do not take any chances.

“When it starts,” Izzo said, “it is too late, and all you’re basically doing is endangering your property, but more important thing is also life or injury.”

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