connecticut weather

Heavy rain causes damage, closes roads in parts of Litchfield County

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Flash flooding Sunday caused serious damage in Litchfield County.

Right now, the town of Norfolk issued a local declaration of emergency due to the amount of flooding the community has seen, flood waters washing away part of Route 272.

According to the town's department of emergency management, Norfolk saw about five inches of rain fall Sunday afternoon in about a ninety minute period.

Route 272 in Norfolk is closed from Bruey Road to Route 263 in Goshen. Various side roads in Norfolk, including Smith and Estey Roads, are closed due to flooding.

Roads, bridges and culverts were washed out. With it going to take a long time to reopen everything, about twenty-five homes are considered isolated and are cut off from emergency services.

“We have reached out to all of those people. They are safe for tonight, but we are going to be working with them trying to get to them physically tomorrow to see and try to come up with a plan to try and get them out of their houses if they need to,” Norfolk PIO Jon Barbagallo stated.

The neighboring town of Colebrook experienced similar flooding issues, with several yards drenched in water. One area business told NBC Connecticut that water had flooded his basement Sunday.

As heavy rain pounded Colebrook, Alan Thayer saw a typically nice stream become flash flooding around the business he co-owns, Spice320.

“I just went around watching helplessly watching the water rise and our basement did the worst case scenario. Right now, I can see our basement took on full water right to the ceiling,” explained Thayer.

Crews quickly turned off power so the basement could be safely pumped out.

Then, at this shop that sells crafts, spices, and take out food, there were concerns about the inventory.

“The next step would be to dry out and try to connect some wires to our generator so we can save our food,” continued Thayer.

For town leaders, they say flooding also washed out parts of some roads.

“When I got here earlier this afternoon the water was flowing over the road,” Colebrook First Selectman Chris Johnstone said.

Crews are still surveying the damage while on call amid concerns the rain is not over.

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