Homeowners in a Hartford neighborhood say they're frustrated dealing with flood after flood. The city is offering a grant aimed to help those impacted by major storms that tore through this summer.
"We've had water all the way up to the ceiling in my basement," said Hartford homeowner Helen Bradshaw.
Every time it rains, Helen Bradshaw gets nervous. She's dealt with a lot of flooding in her more than four decades living on Granby Street in Hartford. This year she lost two cars to the rising waters.
"You don't know what to expect. You just sit there and pray and hope that you be all right and nobody has to come and rescue you," said Bradshaw.
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Ken Green lives next door, and he lost a car from the storm in August. He called it one of the worst he’s seen in more than 35 years.
“My wife had me go down to the basement and get the ladder in case we had to go up on the roof. This was probably one of the first times I think we felt in danger because we really had not seen that kind of water before,” said Green.
“This year we experienced what used to be classified as a 200-year storm, a 25-year storm, and a nearly 100-year storm in the course of about three weeks,” said Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin.
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To help and provide financial relief, the City of Hartford and several elected officials announced a new flood mitigation assistance program. The $500,000 program offers up to $7,500 to homeowners and small business owners impacted by flooding from several major storms this year. The funds are coming from the city.
“We’re under no illusions that this fixes this problem, and we're under no illusions that this makes everybody whole who suffered a loss. This is a way to help folks who experienced some loss to cover some of those costs. We know it won't cover everything, and we know there's still a lot of work to be done both to make this neighborhood and these neighborhoods as a whole more resilient and less vulnerable to these kind of flood events,” said Bronin.
Funds can be used to reimburse or pay for work that needs to be done, including cleanup, mold remediation, and projects to help make the home more resilient to flooding. Mayor Bronin says they’ll continue to work with property owners to find ways to help. He adds that there is a lot of long-term infrastructure work that needs to be done.
“I’m looking forward to getting some kind of relief and not have to be all nervous every time the rain comes by,” said Bradshaw.
Officials encourage Hartford homeowners and small businesses impacted by the flooding this summer to fill out an application as soon as possible. You can head to the city’s website for more information: https://www.hartfordct.gov/Home
Impacted Homeowners can contact Shawana Bowens in the City of Hartford’s Division of Housing at Shawana.Bowens@hartford.gov or via phone at 860 757-9030 for information or to request an application.
Impacted Small Business Owners can contact Kylah Hudson-Samuels at Kylah.Hudson@hartford.gov or via phone at 860 757-9526 for information or to request an application.
