A Nor’easter dropped 6 ½ inches of rain over the town of Fairfield causing major flooding of Fairfield Beach Road as well as some flood damages to houses on Lantern Point.
Deputy Chief Arthur Reid of the Fairfield Police Department confirmed that none of the beach houses at the Fairfield beach were officially evacuated.
“We just advised people to move their cars to Veteran’s Park and various areas on Post Road,” he said.
Reid did say, however, that an evacuation shelter was set up at Fairfield Ludlowe High School, but only approximately 20 to 25 people used the evacuation area.
Adam Peterson ’07, president of the Student Beach Resident Association, sent out messages via Facebook and StagWeb warning students of a possible flood Sunday night.
The message told student to go to campus and “hang out with friends or go to Public Safety if you need housing.”
Police also warned students to move their cars to Veteran’s Park to avoid flood damage.
Aamina Awan ’07, who lives in the beach house Franklin’s Tower, said that Fairfield police came to her house and suggested she evacuate.
“A police officer came to our door and said that they ‘highly recommended’ that we leave,” said Awan.
However, she and her roommates chose to brave the weather.
“I know it could have been more serious the other night but it wasn’t, so I’m glad I didn’t freak out and I’m happy nothing was too damaged,” she said.
Senior Caroline Kelly said her house, the Shangri-La, was lucky not to have endured water damage.
“We didn’t get water damage, but the water came all the way up to our back door since we don’t have a sea wall,” she said.
Kelly said the police eventually advised her housemates to leave the house.
“The water came all the way down our path into our parking lot,” she said. “Once we left there was no way to come back because all the roads were closed.”
Bridget Tackas ’07 is a year-round Fairfield resident and student at the University. She said she has seen worse flooding at Fairfield beach.
“The entire beach area, practically up to Post Road, was flooded in feet of water once in 1992,” said Tackas.
Tackas, however, chose to evacuate her beach house, The Silly Goose, on Sunday.
“It’s amazing how fast the tide can come in,” she said. “And they told us to expect the worst, so I left just to be safe.”
Students said they were conflicted as to whether or not they should have evacuated their houses.
Many who live at Lantern Point did evacuate as the waves began to flow over onto the deck area.
Kristen Heying ’07, who lives at the Fishbowl, said she left the beach because she was worried the waves would reach her house at high tide.
“We were lucky there was no water damage to our house since it’s so close to the water,” Heying said. “But it was better to be safe than sorry.”
While the town of Fairfield reported that the Nor’easter that blew through Connecticut on Sunday dumped approximately 6½ inches, Fairfield county did not get the worst of the storm.
According to senior meteorologist John Desjardins at The Weather Channel, some areas, including New York City, received over eight inches of rain in the past two days, which has resulted in widespread flooding through central New England and northern New Jersey.
Reid said that while Westport, who issued a voluntary evacuation order, had more flooding in the town’s downtown area, Fairfield’s rivers and streams were flooded much more.
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