Valley residents taking a wait and see attitude

 

Ansonia resident Bob Bialek, a member of Ansonia Rescue Medical Services, shows the sanitized cots that are available to evacuees seeking shelter in the Ansonia High School gym. Patricia Villers/Register


By Patricia Villers
Register Staff
and Jean-Falbo-Sosnovich
Register Correspondent


Naugatuck Valley residents took a wait and see attitude concerning Hurricane Sandy.
As of late Monday morning just one senior citizen was staying in the emergency shelter the city had opened at 8 a.m. at Ansonia High School.

Beverly Favreau, who lives in the Ansonia Housing Authority’s Central Street Apartments complex, was reading as she sat on a cot in the gymnasium.

“I just was concerned when I saw on the TV that parking lots in Stratford were flooded,” Favreau said, and she decided to evacuate. Her sister gave her a ride to the shelter, she said.
Favreau was 11 when the Flood of ’55 devastated the Valley, and she said she has vivid memories of the devastation.

“You can’t trust the Naugatuck River,” she said.

Favreau was living on Maple Street in Seymour at the time and remembers that her church, Seymour Congregational on Broad Street, sustained a lot of damage. “I hope my church is going to be OK,” she said.

Ansonia Rescue Medical Services’ member Bob Bialek, of Ansonia, gave a visitor a tour of the shelter. He said boys’ locker room facilities are being used for men, and girls’ locker room facilities are available for women.

Bialek said the city has made accommodations to have Valley Transit District buses and buses from Emmett O’Brien (Technical High School) available “to use if a mass evacuation is needed.”

The high school is at 20 Pulaski Highway. Ansonia Rescue Medical Services’ personnel stationed there said they were there for the duration of the storm.

“We’re prepared to be here as long as necessary,” Bialek said. Drinking water is available there, as are 150 sanitized cots and blankets from Federal Emergency Management Agency, he said.

EMT Terry Godfrey, of Ansonia, said cafeteria employees were there preparing lunch for workers and shelter clients.

She had her 15-year old twins, Andrew and Jenn, with her to help at the shelter. “They’re Junior Corps members,” Godfrey said, and have been involved with the organization for many years.

Godfrey said last year during Hurricane Irene three people, parents with a child, sought shelter at the high school.

Major Theresa Burkholder from the Ansonia-based Greater Valley Salvation Army arrived at the shelter to offer her agency’s assistance.

“We’re available if there’s a need,” Burkholder said. “We can provide meals, and we have blankets, toiletries, diapers, and other supplies,” she said.

Burkholder said she would deliver items to Ansonia High School if requested.

The above story is also at www.nhregister.com. Check back for updates.

Update: Derby Mayor Anthony Staffieri said that at 2 p.m. he had just returned from areas of the city near the Housatonic River.

He said McConney’s Grove off Roosevelt Drive and O’Sullivan’s Island were “still in great shape. There were no significant water problems.”

Staffieri said he expected heavy wind could cause problems later today.

“Wind could knock down trees which could down power lines,” he said.

Staffieri said he held several meetings with department heads Monday.

“Their equipment is in good working order, and the flood gates have been closed,” he said.

If it’s necessary the city will open Derby Middle School as a shelter, with Bradley School as a secondary location if needed, he said.

“We have food and water, we’re prepared.”

Staffieri said it appeared that City Hall would be closed tomorrow.

“We encourage people to call the police department, the fire department, or public works,” he said. “Right now they are waiting for a call. Hopefully there won’t be any calls. That means that there were no problems.”