Norwalkers Get Out Before Irene Hits

NORWALK, Conn. – Bob Artell was thinking about staying as he moved the stone slabs lying by the shore of Long Island Sound on Saturday morning. But Nancy Crowley and just about everyone else in Harbor Shores were unequivocal: They were getting out.

“We have to,” said Crowley, whose husband is president of the Harbor Shores Association. “We’re used to flooding, but the combination of the new moon high tide and the storm surge – and you have to. Our friends have actually moved all their furniture out because we’ve lived with flooding.”

She said 104 families are among the island’s close-knit community, a private neighborhood at the end of Woodward Avenue. The boats had been moved to the marsh and the docks had been removed because they could become missiles in the wind.

“It’s going to be bad, and it’s sad because it’s going to do a lot of damage,” she said. “If it’s not wind, the water is so damaging to us.” Crowley said the water from the Sound would come in and then not leave completely because of the wind. Then the storm surge would come in. Water will collect in the marsh as well, so there’s nowhere for it to go.

“When we had that storm a year ago in March the water was up to my mailbox,” she said. “We really submerge.”

Crowley was heading to her daughter’s house in Silvermine, where she said they would be worried about the trees. Artell’s family was going to his brother-in-law’s house in New Canaan.

He was debating whether he should go with them. His family has owned the waterfront property since 1990, but they had the original “historic eyesore” torn down and replaced with new construction a year ago. The home has highly rated windows and doors, and plywood sheathing inside and out. The land the house sits on is higher than it used to be, too.

“You know anything about the storm surge?” he asked. “That’s really more our issue than anything else.”

The waves would splash up and hit the second story he said. Two walls would break up some of the energy. “I might stay,” he said. “I’m debating. This house is just brand new. … In theory it should survive very well. In fact, I would bet on this house over most of them here.”

What’s worse? Falling trees or storm surge?