Officials: Fighting long-term flooding in Bridgeport is an uphill battle
Some low-lying areas of Bridgeport were flooded due to Sunday's rain, including Thompson Street, where surging water lifted opened a manhole cover.
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Some low-lying areas of Bridgeport were flooded due to Sunday's rain, including Thompson Street, where surging water lifted opened a manhole cover.
Rudolph Hunt told News 12 Connecticut that he was going shopping when he saw rising water near the intersection of North Avenue and Main Street. He turned back.
On the other side of Bridgeport, resident Freddie Nieves said chronic flooding has been draining money out of hard-working people like him as long as he can remember.
"We've been here for more than 20 years and this is just reoccurring every year," Nieves added.
State and local leaders said, however, there is a wellspring of funding to help the public, if they know where to look.
"This year in the budget, I was able to secure $47 million to be able to address the problem and work with the City of Bridgeport," State Sen. Marilyn Moore.
Officials said as a result of Moore's efforts, the city has been awarded a grant through FEMA to study different parts of Bridgeport.
"And in this study, we'll be able to determine which areas have been impacted the most by flooding," said State Rep. Fred Gee.
"And just to be clear, there are no Bridgeport residents that are going to be excluded from the review and the application of these state dollars which are greatly appreciated," said Mayor Joe Ganim.
Officials said, however, fighting flooding in the long-term will be an uphill battle.
"I'm going to be speaking with Gov. Lamont and our federal delegation because, clearly, the flooding now and more to come deserves a federal disaster declaration that will provide aid," Sen. Richard Blumenthal said, adding that the aid will help with flooding across the entire state.
Residents said the help is long overdue for a community plagued by chronic flooding. They call for state and local leaders to make the fight against it an urgent priority.
