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Community Corner

Shelton's Maples Residents Recovering From Irene

Many with generators took storm in stride, while others heeded city's call for mandatory evacuation.

Residents in Shelton’s Maples section, which is prone to flooding with the Housatonic River bordering their properties, took Hurricane Irene in stride.

While some heeded the city’s mandatory call for an evacuation late Saturday, others decided to ride out the storm, as they have done many times before.

Brian Connolly, who lives in a charming red, three-story home, trimmed in white, was one of those residents who braved Mother Nature’s fury.

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Connolly has lived in his riverfront home every summer for the past 51 years, and moved his family in year-round a few years ago. The tremendous views from his home and backyard are worth the price he pays for living on the river’s edge, Connolly said.

“It’s the price you pay for living on the river,” Connolly said.

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But unlike past storms, Connolly said he’s never seen waves so high rushing down the Housatonic as he did on Sunday when Irene blew through.

“I’ve been here 56 years, and this is something I have never seen before,” he said. “The waves coming up the river were five to six feet high, it was incredible.”

Connolly spent the day after the storm doing some clean-up work. He said he only received about an inch of water on his home’s lower level, which was far less than the storm that hit back in March, where heavy rains, coupled with major snow thawing, wreaked havoc on the Maples and beyond. That March storm caused the Housatonic to crest to its highest level since the 1980’s, rising some ten feet higher than normal.

The lower part of the road in the Maples was still underwater a day after the storm, and many of those residents got out Saturday and sought shelter with friends or at hotels. Residents living in the upper portion of the Maples, which took a lesser hit from Irene, spent their time clearing downed tree limbs and debris from the river from their yards. Others without ice were happy to travel to nearby for bags of ice.

While some residents said they were dealing with power outages by firing up their generators, others without them did the best they can, relying on their gas grills to cook their meals. One neighbor, who chose to remain anonymous, said she has good friends who came by with food and water to help them out in this time of need.

According to United Illuminating, there are still about 6,613 residents, or about 38 percent, in Shelton without power, out of the 17,452 residents served by U.I.

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