Southbury

Some Southbury residents cut off due to collapsed bridges, roads

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Floodwaters have receded, but the damage left behind in one Southbury neighborhood has cut off some homeowners from the rest of the town.

At Georges Hill Road next to Kettlewood State Park, neighbors say at least four homes are essentially stranded – meaning they can’t access the road because their bridges or the road collapsed.

David Amdur was bringing supplies for his family on Tuesday. The group is stuck on the other side of the Kettletown Brook after their driveway bridge was swept away.

“It was built to last, but not Sunday,” said Amdur.

Amdur says the bridge has survived superstorms like Irene and Sandy without the water ever getting this high.

Without the bridge, they don't have easy access to get off their property. The only way they can leave is if they trek across the brook -- which is flowing fast and is up to Amdur’s knees.

"We would obviously like to be able to get out so our kids can get on a school bus and not do the Little House on the Prairie crossing the creek every day” said Amdur.

“This really looks like an apocalyptic scene the way the road is gone,” said Marie McColgan.

She lives down the road on the other side of the brook, and is stuck too.

“At one point my yard was the brook. It came 20, 30 feet into my property from the brook into the road,” she said.

She says she's thankful she has even a tiny bit of road left in front of her property, noting her neighbors have no road left. She says they cross in her backyard by foot to leave their property.

“My house is turning into the new community road walkway,” said McColgan.

Today, Eversource, the town of Southbury, the state, and the Red Cross reached the neighborhood by foot to survey the damage.

Many are still without power. Eversource says the power should largely be restored to the neighborhood by Tuesday evening, but says they are bringing in commercial generators as a backup if they’re needed.

“The storm stalled and it just dumped on us. It dumped and dumped and dumped,” said Cliff Becker, another Georges Hill Road neighbor.

Neighbors are helping neighbors. Many are parking up at Kettletown State Park and walking down to bring food and water to homes in need. Others are delivering goods on their four wheelers.

It's a challenging time some say reminds them of what they're thankful for.

“At least we have a house and we can sleep,” Becker said.

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