Tracking Henri: 4 Nursing Homes Evacuated As Parts Of Connecticut Experience Flooding Due To Storm Surge, Heavy Rains
NORWALK, Conn. (CBSNewYork) - Flood waters slowly rose in parts of Connecticut as impacts from Henri settled in.
Across the state, crews were out all day working to restore power. More than 28,000 Eversource customers were in the dark at one point Sunday.
That number continued to decline throughout the evening as service was restored.
Gov. Ned Lamont said Sunday evening he was still worried about flash flooding but believes power outages will not persist.
"The ground is so saturated that it can flood with just another inch of rain," he said. "The overwhelming majority, 90-plus percent, will have their power restored by this time tomorrow."
The state brought in utility crews from as far away as Texas to help.
Crews from Georgia Power tweeted they dispatched to Connecticut to assist in restoring power.
The high tide and some storm surge brought flooding to the parking lot of the East Norwalk Boating and Yacht Club in Norwalk at around noon.
The water was filling the parking light at the Harbor Lights restaurant. There was no water when CBS2's Tony Aiello arrived around 9:45 a.m.
During Superstorm Sandy, some buildings along the Norwalk River and the Long Island sound got about two feet of water due to storm surge. That's not what's expected as a result of Henri, however.
Eversource Energy tweeted a picture of a tree on power lines in Old Saybrook. That took out power to more than 20,000 residents.
Lamont says that, after a terrible response following Tropical Storm Isaias, the state has been all over the utility companies to improve, and they've told him they are ready for whatever Henri brings.
PHOTOS: Henri Impacts Tri-State Area
"They're going to have twice as many people on the ground prepositioned as we had a year ago. That makes a big difference, and we're going to be able to respond faster, and respond in a way that does everything we can to keep you safe," Lamont said.
That means abiding by that saying "Turn around, don't drown" when you see water covering a roadway. All along coastal Connecticut, there are roads that go underneath the Metro North New Haven line, which are notorious for flooding in storms. That's been a big focus of the towns up and down the coast, Aiello reported.
CLICK HERE to check the Eversource outage map.
Meanwhile, nursing homes were evacuated from Apple of Saybrook, Apple of Mystic, Apple of Guilford and Apple of West Haven. Some 248 residents were affected.
