The rain and melting snow are causing already swollen rivers to flow over the banks.
The Shetucket River is causing flooding issues in southeastern Connecticut.
In Norwich, the ice jammed up the river, flooding several backyards.
The ice broke up around 7:45 a.m. Saturday, creating a rushing waterfall sound that woke up the family who lives in this home in the Occum section of Norwich.
Lisa Garstka said the noise of the ice jam was so loud her family thought it was the train rolling by.
“So we woke up and looked out the window to see if it was the train, and it wasn’t, it was the ice that started about three houses down, and it was that loud that we could barely hear each other talk,” Garstka.
The problem started a half-mile upriver in Baltic, where a similar ice jam backed water up into the ball fields and one or two basements.
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Authorities call the flooding minor.
Those large chunks of ice made their way downstream where they broke up and now sit near Garstka’s backyard.
Beyond that is the dam, which is currently flowing as it should.
That’s what’s most critical according to the emergency management director in Sprague.
All of the issues are caused by the rollercoaster weather the state has seen in the last 48 hours, which melted the snowpack and brought heavy amounts of rain.
Rain and Ice Photos from Jan. 12 u0026 13
“I think it’s totally bizarre and my body doesn’t like it all. Last week I was doing my laundry it was -8, and today it’s like 60, and by the time I get out of work it’s going to be 15, 20. My body doesn’t like it at all. Mother Nature I don’t think she knows what she’s doing,” said Ashley Webb of Lebanon.
Temperatures will take another dive back below freezing Saturday.
For more information on the forecast, click here.
