Welcome from the Fox 61 Archives,
where we are taking a look at the
stories we'll always remember by
seeing what we covered that day.
I'm Matt Scott.
It's been 10 years since Hurricane Sandy,
said its sights on the northeast.
Let's open up the archives and
take a look at the coverage.
We're on Long Wharf Drive in
New Haven where the wind gusts
are very strong right now.
You can feel it almost pushing
us over at this point.
The water level is also increasing
right now significantly,
the water splashing up over
the sea wall right here.
Police have actually closed
down some of the roads.
You can see the sign there
on the Boeing in the wind.
They're making sure people are not
driving through here right now,
going through with their megaphones
and getting people off the
road at this time right now.
But the question becomes as time goes on,
as this water splashes.
Over how high is this going to rise
and whether this Main Street here
Long Wharf Dr could start to flood?
And that's what police are watching out for,
getting everybody off the road
and telling them you cannot
be out here right now.
For now.
Reporting in New Haven Goberman,
Fox Connecticut.
A Symphony of shuffling echo
throughout Melba Ave as the challenge
turns from floodwater to sand.
Well, all morning long all we've
been doing is trying to make it
accessible is to get in and out and
then start doing work on the inside.
So a ton of sand, a ton of sand.
Leaf trigger has been through this before,
but this year's cleanup is
expected to take a little longer.
And this year's renovation project
more extensive. I got hit
harder this year
last year. I was able to open up the door
and walk in and everything was fine.
This year I lost the whole first floor.
As the town works on cleaning up
the mess on the street outside.
Work is being done inside Jim Second's home.
We first met Secondi following Irene
when his home was deemed a total loss. So
we're unable to go in unless they
collect valuables or do work to it.
After more than a year of construction,
he anticipated dealing with
different hassles this evening.
Today was moving day from Irene 14 months
ago. Instead, it's cleanup day again.
Well, he says. Sandy was a more
devastating storm. The damage is
minimal compared to last year.
Luckily, the house was built.
To the new codes. And it withstood it.
We're amazed. We're shocked.
Despite the hard work they know
will lie ahead, attitudes remain positive.
He's sick of these storms. Yeah,
yeah, yeah. We just got the house all done.
You know what I'm saying?
It was looking good. You know,
so now it's back to square one,
but we'll be back for the summer.
No problem.
Well, Halloween was the date,
now Thanksgiving.
So the Turkey will be roasting
in the oven for Thanksgiving.
I assume it's going to
taste that much better.
Absolutely delicious. Perfect.
As the sun rose this morning,
this is what folks in Bridgeport
were waking up to Seaside Park
looking more like part of this sea.
And the waters are still
in neighborhoods today.
And that means people have
a lot of cleaning up to do.
Some people needed four wheels or
at least a pair of rubber boots to
survey the damage outside today.
As soon as the water and
everything started coming in,
it got
pretty scary right away.
Others had to evaluate the
damage done inside their homes.
We tried to set it up to to stop the
water from really rushing in with
the bags and all that stuff. I think that
helped big time. I was lucky.
All the water I got like 4 inches,
but my neighbor got all my stuff.
By the sound still crashing into the seawall,
but Hurricane Sandy one
day later into perspective.
Anybody be scared you'll see like
the water rushing in like it was
doing last night as this neighborhood
tries to salvage what it can.
But I'm here right now to try to
see what's going on and obviously
to help with the cleanup.
Folks find themselves surrounded.
Water on one side and debris on the other.
But the task now turns from rescue
to recovery, starting with roadways.
Just this morning,
the city received close to 100 calls
for tree limbs down and other debris.
We're
requesting that citizens stay out
of those areas, that they mine
the barriers that have been set up
and they they give our crews an
opportunity to clear the roads.
Meanwhile, United Illuminating
has the job of restoring power
to close to 200,000 customers.
It isn't just the trees causing
the problems floodwaters forced.
3 substations to shut down through morning.
A check today means they're running again.
Now, it doesn't mean everybody's gonna
automatically get their power back
on because the distribution system
has had extensive damage and we have
to go out and fix all the damage
despite there still being
thousands of power outages.
UI says this could have been much worse.
The floodwaters came within just feet of
that control room of this substation.
And if that would have happened,
you would have been without power for
weeks instead of just days in Bridgeport.
Jane Carabello, fox connect.
Here we are. It's the day after
Sandy's landfall and we're
still seeing remnants of the storm,
the surf turning up pretty good right now.
The wind's still a factor here in Branford.
Take a look at this tree.
Nearly missed this house.
We're seeing a lot of downed trees and downed
power lines along this stretch of road.
And look at these jersey barriers.
The wind just moved them
aside like Lego blocks.
Also a lot of Rd damage here.
You can see where the pavement
buckled and that's surf.
Just unbelievable.
Folks coming down to take
pictures walking around their
neighborhoods to assess the damage.
Here's what one woman told us.
She had been running a generator all
through the night to try to save her home.
Had pumps running.
Here's what she told us
about what she saw and.
Experienced
right now I see a lot of destruction.
And Mother Nature at work,
she's very powerful.
Now, some of these segments of seawall
were newly installed last year.
And one of the big concerns here was
that the ocean might pass over those
walls and interfere with the gas
line that serves this neighborhood.
That did not happen.
So that's good news here in Branford.
But as you saw in the video,
quite a lot of destruction in
the wake of Sandy's reporting.
In Branford, I'm Mike Magnoli,
fox Connecticut.
When the water was three to five
feet deep on Reef Rd in Fairfield,
there was no surprise after Sandy's
flooding drained that this is what it
would look like inside the sea Grape cafe.
I mean, this is a
bomb went off in here.
The bars owner summed up the
aftermath in five words.
This is a complete disaster.
And he's already contacted FEMA.
Almost 900 businesses have.
Registered and are working with
the SBA on getting assistance.
The SBA is the United States
Small Business Administration.
Representatives have been offering low
interest loans at FEMA disaster relief
centers and they can make your repairs
and pay us back when the insurance settles.
So this way they can go ahead
and get the life back in order.
Most storm ravaged homeowners qualify
for a fixed interest rate of 1.688%,
while businesses are looking
at 4% and nonprofits 3%.
If they don't qualify, then we would
refer them back to FEMA for grant.
And a grant they wouldn't have to repay.
Some businesses just can't get a break.
One of those businesses was
flooded last year as well,
so they're they're really in trouble.
The business the governor was referring
to today is Pops Grocery in Bridgeport.
Here's the water.
This is 4 1/2 feet, 4 feet.
The lures are on top here.
The flow,
Tony and Joanne Malinowski will
have to count on FEMA and the SBA
to save their store once again.
You know, this is 2 two years in a row.
It's a lot to take. You know,
we're trying to get back on our feet
again and we're going to need more
assistance from the small business
people we really are at this time.
This House behind me survived
tropical Storm Irene,
but Sandy Surge won this round.
All kinds of debris washed up
on shore during the storm,
including this lobster pot,
so now it's time for cleanup.
Sandy has left town,
but she refused to take
all of her ugliness.
With her Walker Ave.
Was evacuated yesterday,
but at the end
of the road several homes still haven't
begun to dry out. The Beemans
had to clean out the garage,
but their year round home
luckily remained high and dry
before you came home.
Today you're fearing the worst,
absolutely, but we're glad
that it's only what it is.
One chore trying to get this mud out of here
at a time. Indian Town beach is cleaning up.
Water went all the way up the street.
Literally, you know, about 10 houses up.
See Lane already had dumpsters
delivered for debris.
I just plucked out this sign from the water.
It belongs to the Great
Hammock Beach Association.
This is the kind of debris that's
continuing to wash up onshore,
and it looks like the homes along the coast
are still in danger of another surge.
I just pulled out the sign.
Where? Where's it from?
So on the other side out there all the way
out $1,000,000 view and today another
hefty price to pay Sandy left an
extremely expensive uninvited guest
that many homes including the Wertheim.
They already cleaned up the mud after
about a foot of water seeped in
that we cheated out first.
Yeah, we squeezed you out and
then came in with the mops
after a close call with Irene and now
a blow from Sandy, the Wertheim's
are still staying put. We'll
just adapt whether it means put up,
put us on a foundation a foot higher.
But there's nothing like the views
from here. The rest of the year,
hours after Sandy passed through,
the surf still rages in Old Saybrook.
So it could take several days to
fully assess the damage of these
homes on the water. In Old Saybrook,
I'm John Charlton, Fox Connecticut.
And Brent, while residents here in Fairfield
are still waiting for electricity,
pumping out basements and searching
for items swept away by sandy,
police and firefighters are now
in the midst of a lengthy recovery
that's expected to last
much longer than the storm.
This is the worst storm in our lifetime.
Fairfield Police units roll through
town streets, armed to enter the
neighborhoods hardest hit by Sandy.
We're still finding people in their
homes two days after the storm,
and boat is still the only way
into some neighborhoods today.
Police and.
Our units launched search and rescue
missions into the heart of the devastation,
checking homes to see if anyone
was left stranded by Sandy.
From Sunday night till yesterday,
they were still helping people that were
trapped by the water to safer grounds.
Police officers and firefighters are
racing to uncover all the dangers
left behind by the Superstorm,
both on land and in the water.
We wanted to take our Fox Connecticut
cameras out onto the water in Fairfield
just to document some of the dramatic damage.
Done by Sandy.
But we were later told we'd have to
stay on ground because the danger
in the water is still too great.
As much as the skies are blue,
the storm has gone away.
We haven't recovered enough
to start restoration.
So for families like the
millions who lost electricity,
that means home for now is a shelter.
It's colder in our house
right now than it is outside.
So the kids are wearing,
you know, 3 layers,
and we're we came here just to warm up.
Sherry's two young children may
be too young to understand the
complexities of a hurricane,
but they know exactly how Sandy.
Let them feeling for electricity.
We didn't have anything to eat.
It was hard for us, for us to steadily.
I do not look in my closet.
Just to put into context how much debris
is still in the water here in Fairfield.
What you're looking at is the roof of a home.
It was actually blown away from
its base by the wind during Sandy,
and that part of the house has
just been floating up and down
this Creek throughout the day.
It just goes to show there are
still several days left worth
of recovery in this town.
Reporting from Fairfield,
Ayana, Harry Fox, Connecticut.