
I think our emergency management plans for dealing with the aftermath are in pretty good shape. "There's a great deal of work that needs to be done. Groton Long Point South Beach, September 2022 But for many people who live along Long Island Sound, the risk of another hurricane is a risk they're willing to take. Sandy showed us that communities like Chalker Beach and so many others along the Connecticut shoreline are vulnerable to hurricanes and storm surge flooding. Other homes needed to be rebuilt completely. “Thankfully we didn’t have as bad of damage as some of the homes that were lost, but you know the porch was kind of blown off and we had four or five feet of water in the house and had to do what we had to do. Valerie Aloiso wasn't home when Sandy struck, but she remembers hurrying back to make sure her family was okay. His house was spared, but others weren't so lucky. I was on my second floor on my deck and I could see the waves," Kuharski said. Hank Kuharski lived just a few streets over from where the fire broke out. These homes were surrounded by water," Dunn said. “I knew water was going to be an issue and I really didn’t need to risk our firefighters' lives unnecessarily to battle a fire that was in the middle of Long Island Sound. With feet of water flooding parts of town, a call about a large fire burning on Chalker Beach came in late at night. JT Dunn was the Old Saybrook fire chief at the time and he said as the night grew and the tide came up, firefighters conducted a lot of water rescues and helped people trapped in their homes. The whipping wind tore down trees while Sandy's storm surge devastated some parts of town. Winds of 80 mph reached Old Saybrook during Hurricane Sandy. NBC Connecticut's Ryan Hanrahan spoke with a few shoreline residents who saw Sandy's fury up close. The storm flooded neighborhoods, battered shoreline homes and sparked a large fire in Chalker Beach. One of the towns hardest hit by Sandy was Old Saybrook. Photos: A Look Back on Hurricane Sandy's Impact on Connecticut In Easton, a falling tree killed an on-duty firefighter who was helping to clear debris during the storm. On the Guilford Green, Sandy left a tangled mess of trees and roots. Up to 80 mph wind gusts splintered trees and caused power outages lasting nearly a week. Some people's lives were changed in a matter of minutes.įarther inland, the wind caused the most damage. Here in Connecticut, Sandy struck at low tide, but the damage on the shoreline was still substantial.Įven though Sandy was no longer a hurricane at landfall, the storm crashed ashore with unrelenting fury.Ī storm surge of up to 10 feet poured inland from Long Island Sound, flooding neighborhoods and swallowing entire homes in the process. New York and New Jersey took a direct hit from the storm, with scenes of devastation stretching from the Jersey Shore to New York City. 10 years ago with ferocious winds and deadly storm surge. Hurricane Sandy slammed into the Northeastern U.S.
