To the Citizens of Southbury:
As we are all aware, the town of Southbury suffered extreme damage from the flooding on August 18th & 19th. I want to assure the residents of Southbury that my team and I are committed to restoring the damage to our town as safely and quickly as possible. Below is a recap of some of what has been happening over the past week.
The Board of Selectmen has held three board meetings over this past week to put emergency funding in place so we can keep the critical roadwork and mitigation moving. The Board also extended the state of emergency for thirty days.
Emergency Management Director Stephen Schnell and I have conducted emergency briefings daily at town hall with representatives from Eversource, Region 15, Public Works, Finance, CT Water, Fire Marshal, Board of Selectmen members, the Red Cross, and many others. We have been formulating plans to address the variety of needs throughout town.
Friday afternoon we met with Congresswoman Jahana Hayes, a representative from Senator Murphy's office, the Red Cross, and a team from FEMA to review the damages in Southbury and to come up with a game plan to move forward. I want to thank each of them for taking the time to meet with us.
We have a number of catastrophic road failures and many partial road collapses. A big thank you to all of our hard working public works employees, you make us proud. The public works team has been working tirelessly around the clock to address each location affected. This was an unprecedented storm and they are making every effort to repair and restore our town. The public should be aware that we are not out of the woods and extreme caution should be exercised when traveling through town.
The Southbury Volunteer Fire Department has been instrumental in helping the town with this event. They have pumped out basements, rescued stranded motorists, and aided homeowners in distress. They have spent this past week documenting damages throughout town, which will be very important as we move toward applying for FEMA assistance. We cannot thank them enough for all that they do.
The Police Department has been working day and night to safeguard our community. Please heed all traffic signs and use caution when traveling in town.
Our Building Official Mark Cody and Fire Marshal Derrek Guertin have been conducting building inspections throughout the town for safety and habitability. We appreciate all of their hard work to keep our citizens safe.
The town is working closely with Region 15 and First Student Bus Company on bus routes. Thank you to First Student and the drivers’ commitment to their community and safety. They have been determining and running bus routes over the past week and Region 15 is cautiously optimistic for bus transportation to be determined for the start of the school year.
The Southbury Public Library suffered significant flooding which has made the building unsafe to reopen. We are working with our insurance company to address the damages and we will keep the public updated as we learn more.
The transfer station remains in operation during regular business hours. We have waived the fees to dispose of flood-damaged household items, and brush for citizens.
Individual homeowners should be sure to document their damage on our website by visiting www.southbury-ct.org/emergencycenter. This documentation will be used by FEMA in order to qualify individuals for assistance.
I want to thank all of the volunteer organizations that are stepping up to help our neighbors in need, including: The Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Network, Team Rubicon, Southbury Volunteer Fire Department, Southbury Needy Fund, Southbury Food Bank, The American Red Cross, Southbury Women's Club, local businesses and many others. All of the neighbors helping neighbors, your efforts are noticed, and appreciated. Thank you to all of the town employees who have pulled together to get the town up and running again. Working together, we will get through this.
Although we are still in a state of emergency, and we have a long way to go, we remain confident that Southbury will come through this stronger than ever. As always, please do not hesitate to reach out to town hall if you have any questions or concerns.
The latest storm-related information and recovery information is available on our website at www.southbury-ct.org/emergencycenter .
Stay Safe Southbury,
Jeffrey A. Manville
First Selectman