FEMA Tours Groton To Assess Damage

Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency toured Groton Thursday to assess damage as part of their effort to determine whether New London County qualifies for federal disaster relief.

Joseph Sastre, Groton’s director of emergency management, said four officials from FEMA toured the town for about two hours, traveling through areas including Groton Long Point, Noank and Mystic.

“They were looking for major, significant damage,” he said. “They wanted to know ‘Did your sewer treatment system survive? Did your bridges survive?’”

All did. The town suffered zero infrastructure damage to places like bridges, roads and schools. 

Branches downed power lines and some fell against homes, but few suffered major loss. He said about a half dozen houses had significant damage like trees falling on roofs, for example.

Sastre said he doesn’t believe Groton will trigger disaster relief by itself, but it’s computed on a county and state basis. One town can escape relatively unscathed while the next experiences widespread loss. A disaster declaration releases federal money through various programs to help homeowners, small businesses and municipalities recover.

The biggest problem in town remains the lack of power, Sastre said.

Connecticut Light & Power reported 3,190 homes in Groton without power Thursday, or 39 percent of those served. About one-third depend on wells, so no power means no water.

“The world is divided into two groups of people,” said Kathy O’Neil, of Mystic, as she did laundry at James Laundromat. “People who have no power but have water, and people who have no power and no water. No water is much worse.”

Residents without water described running hoses from their neighbors' houses with city water to their homes on wells. A family described  collecting water in totes to wash dishes, bathe and flush the toilet.

For the first day, O'Neil said her cat, who typically drinks from the faucet, waited at the kitchen sink, rubbing her face on the spicket and crying. Now, she said, the animal drinks water poured from a bottle and has learned to dip her nose in a bowl.

Deputy Director of Emergency Operations Jeffrey Williams said neighborhoods in Groton Long Point, Noank and along Cow Hill Road and Pumpkin Hill Road have not had power restored. Crews are still clearing trees to make lines safe to work on, he said.

He said the latest report predicted 90 percent of residents would have power restored Friday, with the remaining 10 percent back by next week.

The Office of Emergency Management, the Community Emergency Response Team members and the American Red Cross are hosting a free, hot meal from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday at the Groton Senior Center, then plan to stop that service. The senior center will continue to offer free, hot showers from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. through today, then will make a decision about whether to keep it going.

The town also ordered 5,000 ready-to-eat meals, along with bottled water and ice. The supplies are available from noon until 6 p.m. today at Poquonnock Plains Park on Route 1 across from the entrance to Grasso Technical High School.

A dozen members of the Navy Recruit Station New London helped distribute the meals Thursday.