Storm warning; Town braces for flooding

Not again.

Two weeks after being hammered by a fierce storm that left one woman dead and knocked out power to thousands, the town is once again bracing for nature's wrath as flooding is expected following heavy rains today and Tuesday.

"It's Mother Nature at work; what can I say?" First Selectmen Peter Tesei said Sunday.

Tesei said the scale of the flooding is unknown, but according to the National Weather Service, the town could be hit by as much as 3 to 6 inches of rain. The state Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security advised municipal emergency management directors that the rain could lead to flooding, according to Tesei.

Southern and southwestern Connecticut is expected to get the heaviest rain, with the National Weather Service saying that as much as 8 inches of rain could fall in "spot" locations, Tesei said. It wasn't known if any of those locations were in Greenwich.

Tesei and the town's emergency management director Daniel Warzoha met in Tesei's office Sunday to plan for the bad weather and prepare a reverse 911 telephone call to alert residents.

The town made sand and sandbags available free of charge to residents Sunday evening at the Glenville, Cos Cob and Sound Beach fire stations.

The Emergency Management Center will reopen 9 a.m. Monday to coordinate the response a week after closing following the previous storm.

Northeast winds as high as 20 mph are forecasted for the Tuesday morning commute in Greenwich. Although not the 60 mph gusts the town had on March 13 and 14, the winds could uproot trees because of the already saturated ground.

Two weeks ago, Tree Warden Bruce Spaman said trees that normally wouldn't have toppled in the storm, like pines and spruce trees, were ripped from the ground with relative ease by the wind because the ground was so saturated.

If the town receives six inches of rain it would equal the amount Greenwich received almost three years ago when a fierce storm caused the evacuation of almost 100 people by boat and front-loaders April 15. Police closed 62 roads because of the flooding. There were no injuries during the 2007 storm and no trees fell.

Parts of Pemberwick that front the Byram River in a low-lying area were among the hardest-hit. Greenwich Creek, which winds through Greenwich High School grounds, Milbrook and Bruce Park before emptying into Long Island Sound, also flooded.

In a story in Greenwich Time last year, Tony Macleod, chairman of the town's Flood and Erosion Control Board, said that storm brought to the forefront the need to improve its flood and drainage control infrastructure.

A study of the town's infrastructure has identified 33 projects with a price tag of $100 million. None of those projects have been approved.

The third and final public meeting that had been scheduled for the public on March 16 to review the study was postponed because of damage from the windstorm. No date has been set to reschedule the meeting.

The month before the April 15 nor'easter in 2007, the town was hit with just under four inches of rain in a 15-hour period that began late in the evening of March 1.

Firefighters evacuated nearly 40 people from homes because the streets surrounding their homes had been submerged in water.

According to the National Weather Service, a slow-moving cold front and storm will hit New England on Monday and Tuesday. This storm is forecast to form along the East Coast and tap into a large amount of moisture over the Caribbean bringing 36 to 48 hours of heavy rain to the area Monday and Tuesday.

-- Staff Writer Frank MacEachern can be reached at frank.maceachern@scni.com or 203-625-4434.