Connecticut
Danbury hosting workshop to address climate-related issues of downtown flooding, extreme urban heat
DANBURY — As downtown flooding from storms grows, the town of Danbury is methods of dealing within the coming years with that rising drawback in addition to the affect of maximum warmth on unprepared residents.
“Having a plan for all these emergencies will hold our residents protected and scale back the impacts of all these climate emergencies sooner or later,” Danbury Mayor Dean Esposito stated in an announcement.
To that finish, the town will host a public workshop on the climate-related points from 6 to eight p.m. Monday, April 3, within the cafeteria of Rogers Park Center Faculty.
The assembly, referred to as the Resilient Danbury East Ditch Flooding and Excessive Warmth Examine Workshop, can be held in partnership with the Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Local weather Adaptation.
Danbury has endured many years of downtown flooding that presents public security challenges, closes elements of Most important Avenue to visitors and damages properties situated alongside what is known as the East Ditch alignment, the town stated in an announcement. These issues can happen after heavy rainstorms, in addition to throughout nor’easters, tropical storms and hurricanes.
Additionally, most of the residents of downtown Danbury are additionally susceptible to excessive warmth, which is “attributed primarily to the excessive social vulnerability inside the neighborhood, mixed with dense housing,” the town stated in an announcement.
Danbury is seeking to develop methods for adapting to elevated storms and scorching climate and implementing methods of mitigating the impacts of climate-induced flooding, each now and sooner or later, the town stated in an announcement.
The Resilient Danbury East Ditch Flooding and Excessive Warmth Examine Workshop can be held from 6 to eight p.m. Monday, April 3, within the cafeteria of Rogers Park Center Faculty.
The assembly will held in partnership with the Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Local weather Adaptation, or CIRCA, which initiated a undertaking referred to as Resilient Connecticut.
To be taught extra about Resilient Connecticut, go to resilientconnecticut.uconn.edu/about/.
In an instance of that storm-related flooding, in August 2021, Tropical Storm Henri hit the world, inflicting floods in downtown Danbury. Obstacles have been put in close to the nook of Wooster and Most important streets, blocking vehicles from Most important Avenue, the place there was standing water on the roadway.
The intersection of Wooster Avenue, Most important Avenue and Park Place flood about 5 occasions a 12 months throughout storms, in accordance with Danbury’s 2017 Hazard Mitigation Plan.
“It’s been a protracted, longstanding drawback,” then-Mayor Joe Cavo stated in 2021. “That space of Most important Avenue has been problematic for many years.”
The town was working to develop long-term mitigation methods to take care of the flooding that has grow to be a norm in that space, Matthew Cassavechia, emergency providers director stated on the time. Final 12 months, the state put in a brand new pipe to interchange a collapsed, previous stone culvert that officers stated was accountable for the flooding. Officers had lengthy via the flooding was attributable to issues with the East Ditch drainage system, which was designed within the late nineteenth century to route sewage, horse manure and storm water to the Nonetheless River, in accordance with Danbury’s 2017 Hazard Mitigation Plan.
A primary part of upgrades to the system have been accomplished within the early 2000s, however the second part was “deferred previous 2021” within the metropolis’s 2015-16 funds, the plan states.
The foundations of homes constructed within the 1800s and early 1900s block water from flowing via the East Ditch system, Cavo stated beforehand.
The culvert system, which was constructed within the late nineteenth century is undersized, in accordance with Danbury’s 2017 Hazard Mitigation Plan. A number of 18-inch diameter pipes and a 24-inch diameter pipe circulate into one 18-inch pipe, inflicting backups in heavy rains, the report states.
CIRCA has initiated a undertaking referred to as Resilient Connecticut, with a aim of making a regional coastal resilience plan for Fairfield and New Haven counties. The planning will have a look at methods to extend coordination and collaboration between state and native governments, utilities, enterprise communities and residents to combine local weather adaptation methods in the neighborhood.
Consists of earlier reporting by Julia Perkins and Currie Engel.