OT 1955 Connecticut Flood

[AZHuskiePop]

Aug 19 is the 60th anniversary of the great flood of 1955
If you get a chance watch some of the old films that have been uploaded to YouTube.
To get an appreciation for the event.
I will never forget that day.
We evacuated my Aunt and Uncle from Ansonia and as they were taking what they could, my cousin and I watched a Naugatuck river which , looked a mile wide. There wasn't a single bridge left on the entire Naughy length the only way in to the Valley from Fairfield County was the Derby Shelton bridge, as route 8 was flooded.
Connecticut received over 20" of rain over a 5 day period from back to back hurricanes.
As I was just a kid I had no appreciation for the effort to rebuild and the co-operation from people and companies in non effected areas. Companies in Towns like Milford and New Haven operated with minimal crews as many of their employees were dispatched to hard hit communities. A key objective was to get the factories running ,as the flood put an estimated 86,000 people out of work.

 

[huskypantz]

The flood wiped out one side of Main Street in my hometown Winsted. I don't think the town every really recovered from the loss of businesses after the flood. The town of Winchester's population in 1950 was 10535. It was 11242 at last census check. I did a quick check of about 20 or so towns in CT and all but maybe one had fairly significant population growth in that same timeframe as the state went from 2 million to 3.6 or so million people.

 

[John]

My dad tells us of sitting in a hillside cemetary and watching houses float by in Unionville.

 

[Matrim55]

The flood wiped out one side of Main Street in my hometown Winsted. I don't think the town every really recovered from the loss of businesses after the flood. The town of Winchester's population in 1950 was 10535. It was 11242 at last census check. I did a quick check of about 20 or so towns in CT and all but maybe one had fairly significant population growth in that same timeframe as the state went from 2 million to 3.6 or so million people.

I think the same could be said of my hometown, Torrington. My dad grew up on Oak Avenue and told us stories about how the town changed after the flood (and also about that cardboard box full of Mickey Mantle & Willie Mays rookie cards that were washed away).

Obligatory "Winstead raggie!" insult. No offense meant.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

I worked with a man from Seymour who was a teenager in 1955.
Prior to the flood the River branched off near downtown forming an island.
There was a Buick dealership and stores on that island including the hangout for High School kids as Seymour High was then located near downtown.
After the flood this island no longer existed,completely wiped off the landscape
The entire new car inventory washed down stream.
He also said he stood on the east bank and watched large three and four story tenement buildings uprooted and float intact to the falls where they disappeared and re-appeared as ruble.

 

[Uconnrick]

I was 8 months old and my parents lived in a trailer park in Beacon Falls. My Dad left for work that morning and turned around when he realized how bad it was getting. He grabbed me and my Mom minutes before their trailer floated away along everything they owned.

 

[BoatShow]

I work in Putnam where they got absolutely demolished when dams broke on the Quinnebaug. Town never recovered

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Aug 19 is the 60th anniversary of the great flood of 1955
If you get a chance watch some of the old films that have been uploaded to YouTube.
To get an appreciation for the event.
I will never forget that day.
We evacuated my Aunt and Uncle from Ansonia and as they were taking what they could, my cousin and I watched a Naugatuck river which , looked a mile wide. There wasn't a single bridge left on the entire Naughy length the only way in to the Valley from Fairfield County was the Derby Shelton bridge, as route 8 was flooded.
Connecticut received over 20" of rain over a 5 day period from back to back hurricanes.
As I was just a kid I had no appreciation for the effort to rebuild and the co-operation from people and companies in non effected areas. Companies in Towns like Milford and New Haven operated with minimal crews as many of their employees were dispatched to hard hit communities. A key objective was to get the factories running ,as the flood put an estimated 86,000 people out of work.

My grandparents showed me pictures of '55 from Seymour. My Mom was just born and they just moved from Shelton to Seymour off of Great Hill Rd. My Granfather worked in Shelton (at the plant that burned down spectacularly in the 80's) and was out of work for weeks. The watched houses and caskets float over the small damn south of downtown Seymour. I think some damn gave way in Thomaston that really made a mess of things. Not sure if Route 8 was even built then. Also, if memory serves, there was 1 bridge left over the Naugatuck south of Waterbruy - the steel truss bridge in Beacon Falls. The next bridge was the old steel deck Sikorsky bridge carrying the Merritt over the Housatonic in Stratford and Milford.

 

[borninansonia]

My father lost his grocery store in that flood, it was in downtown Ansonia, very close to the river. He started to rebuild, and then another flood came, I think in October. We lost everything.

I still have, somewhere deep in my files, the Ansonia Sentinel special edition on the flood.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

'55 was basically caused by back-to-back tropical systems in August and then a hybrid nor'Easter/tropical system (think Sandy) in October.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_of_1955_(Connecticut)

 

[HuskyV]

I worked with a man from Seymour who was a teenager in 1955.
Prior to the flood the River branched off near downtown forming an island.
There was a Buick dealership and stores on that island including the hangout for High School kids as Seymour High was then located near downtown.
After the flood this island no longer existed,completely wiped off the landscape
The entire new car inventory washed down stream.
He also said he stood on the east bank and watched large three and four story tenement buildings uprooted and float intact to the falls where they disappeared and re-appeared as ruble.

Ariel photo of Seymour, Oct 13, 1951

http://magic.lib.uconn.edu/magic_3/...8/adimg_37831_09_CNG10H87_1951_s8_pma_1_p.pdf

 

[Hankster]

Although the north end of Waterbury wasn't by the river, I do recall our cellar with 3 feet of water. My dad built a railway for my Lionel Train set. The water came up to the edge of the top. On Division Street there was a YMCA just down the street from Slocum School. I also recall everyone going there to get shots. Not the polio type. Soon after that my dad built our home in the East End off of Frost Road.
I did see pictures of were the Chase Manufacturing used to be. Just northeast of center Waterbury. I was 4 or 5. Was Uniroyal along the river at that time? It's been some time for me.

 

[uconnfan68]

The flood wiped out one side of Main Street in my hometown Winsted. I don't think the town every really recovered from the loss of businesses after the flood. The town of Winchester's population in 1950 was 10535. It was 11242 at last census check. I did a quick check of about 20 or so towns in CT and all but maybe one had fairly significant population growth in that same timeframe as the state went from 2 million to 3.6 or so million people.

I can remember driving through (with parents) there almost a 2 years later and it was like a war zone. We rode out the storms at our house on Long Island, and I remember the wind and rain to this day. Moved to CT in late 1956.

 

[uconnell]

I was working at a bank in Norwalk at the time of the flood. All the dams upstream broke creating a domino affect at each dam down river causing a huge tidal wave. By the time it got to Norwalk the Norwalk River was a raging torrent over flowing its banks and causing bridge after bridge to go down.

The river devided Norwalk in half with the River going underground in the center of town through underground never used train tracks that ran underneath the bank. The water had to be at least 10' deep.

It took out the backs of buildings, housing stores, leaving only the fronts. Wiping out an entire block of businesses. Compromised the underground bridge, which further hindered traffic.


Further downstream the Washington St bridge was stuck open leaving a mess of traffic in So. Norwalk.

The FBI was in town due to a rumor that a bank robbery might be taking place. Never happened.

The saddest part was watching the store owners come in, the lucky ones that managed to save their vaults, with wet,silt laden money.

 

[Paesano]

I waa raised in Ansonia, as was my mother who was 21 in 1955. The most shocking story was about caskets floating down the river from cemetaries that got washed away.

 

[David 76]

I was 8 months old and my parents lived in a trailer park in Beacon Falls. My Dad left for work that morning and turned around when he realized how bad it was getting. He grabbed me and my Mom minutes before their trailer floated away along everything they owned.

I was 10 months old

 

[jayfromfla]

I was 5 years old and lived in Naugy. Dad came home from work and took us down Maple st to see the rising waters the Whittemore bridge was submerged and the water was up to the train tressle on the west side of the river. We didnt have electricity for several weeks. We got jugs of water for drinking and cooked outside. then as we were about to go to school ( abt 4 weeks later) we had to get shots to fight the disease associated with the flooding.

 

[TroyHouse66]

1955... We had just moved from the North End of Hartford to Bloomfield.
I can remember looking out our kitchen door at a steady sheet of rain during Diane. Mayfair Road filled several inches deep with water, flowed like a small brook from lawn to lawn, and retained a strange warmth from the rain that fell that day.
A few days later, we took the '49 Oldsmobile up toward Litchfield Co to survey the impact. In either Winstead or Torrington the main street had washed out. The manhole covers were undisturbed, but they sat atop their steel casements, like a row of stovepipe hats, sticking up about 5ft above the former street grade along Main St.

 

[huskypantz]

Just to get a scope of the cost of the damage, this document estimated $202.8 million for homes, businesses etc in 1955. With inflation, the cost of damage today would be $1.8 billion.

 

[huskypantz]

1955... We had just moved from the North End of Hartford to Bloomfield.
I can remember looking out our kitchen door at a steady sheet of rain during Diane. Mayfair Road filled several inches deep with water, flowed like a small brook from lawn to lawn, and retained a strange warmth from the rain that fell that day.
A few days later, we took the '49 Oldsmobile up toward Litchfield Co to survey the impact. In either Winstead or Torrington the main street had washed out. The manhole covers were undisturbed, but they sat atop their steel casements, like a row of stovepipe hats, sticking up about 5ft above the former street grade along Main St.

Sounds like you're describing Winsted. These are photos of Main St - people are standing several feet under the prior street level. The article I linked earlier noted that there were spots where the ground was 10-15 feet below street level.

 

[huskypantz]

I think the same could be said of my hometown, Torrington. My dad grew up on Oak Avenue and told us stories about how the town changed after the flood (and also about that cardboard box full of Mickey Mantle & Willie Mays rookie cards that were washed away).

Obligatory "Winstead raggie!" insult. No offense meant.

Hah yes, only us NW CT natives know what raggies are. Don't forget that Winsted and Torrington share the nickname, my fellow raggy.

 

[superjohn]

Hah yes, only us NW CT natives know what raggies are. Don't forget that Winsted and Torrington share the nickname, my fellow raggy.

Took the week off and am back in CT., was just on top of Mt. Riga in Salisbury the other day where the Raggies descended from.

 

[David 76]

Was anyone alive for the hurricane of 38?

 

[TXHuskyFan]

My parents were kids (about 9 or 10) growing up in Torrington in 1955. They still talk about the flood. One of my mom's cousins was killed in that flood.

 

[Matrim55]

Took the week off and am back in CT., was just on top of Mt. Riga in Salisbury the other day where the Raggies descended from.

I never bought the Mt. Riga etymology. I always figured it was a diminutive of "ragpicker," which was a real thing: