Severe weather causes roof fire, flash flooding, road closures in Stamford
Stamford police responded to reports of flooded out roads throughout the city and shut down stretches of several, while firefighters battled a roof fire due to a lightning strike.
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The severe weather Tuesday kept first responders busy in Stamford with flooding, road closures and a fire due to lightning.
Fire crews were called to 93 Knickerbocker Ave. in the Springdale area after lightning struck the roof of a house and caught fire around 12:15 p.m.
“It looked like it hit just right next to the chimney, put a pretty good whole in the roof and caught the roof sheathing and shingles on fire,” said Deputy Chief Ryan Kerwin.
Kerwin told News 12 the flames extended into the interior of the top of the home as well.
Crews were able to put the fire out in about 20 minutes, according to Kerwin, who added that no one was hurt.
He said one woman lives there and is now being helped by the Red Cross because the home is temporarily uninhabitable.
Elsewhere in the city’s Springdale section, people dealt with massive flooding. John and Donna Strout have lived on Minivale Road for 10 years and shared video of their backyard under water and water rushing down the street. Their property backs up to Sterling Farms Golf Course, which they said is where all the water is coming from.
“The water coming out of the sand trap is like a river,” stated John Strout. “It flows down the cart paths. It comes into my yard, my neighbor's yard, and it basically has nowhere to go when it gets downhill. I've talked to the city about this in the past. The Environmental Protection Board told me they were going to have the golf course do something by taking out permits and redirecting the water into a storm drain up the street, but so far that hasn't happened.”
Strout said this is the third time the house has flooded due to downpours with the two prior times coming in 2022 and 2024. He told News 12 not only is it a financial burden but anytime there’s bad weather, it causes anxiety.
“I stayed home today from work knowing that a storm was coming just from past experiences,” Strout explained. “And every time we are somewhere, and it's raining heavy, we leave wherever we are and come home to take care of what needs to be taken care of.”
Police responded to reports of flooded out roads throughout the city, shutting down stretches of several, including Elm Street off I-95. That and other closures downtown led to major traffic backups.
