Hundreds of nursing home patients around the coast were evacuated as a precaution on Sunday due to Tropical Storm Henri. Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont says they had teams ready to go in if there were power outages in those elderly areas, which were not endangered by flooding but by power outages.
It will take a few days to get everyone back into the nursing homes, according to workers. They are not in a hurry and want to ensure that everything is done properly
Meanwhile, the state of Connecticut has been cleared for a presidential pre-landfall emergency declaration, according to the governor. The proclamation was made ahead of Tropical Storm Henri. On Sunday at 1 p.m., Gov. Ned Lamont gave a storm update.
President Joe Biden's permission means the federal government will assist with the storm through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, according to Lamont. As the effects of Storm Henri wore off, floodwaters slowly climbed in sections of Connecticut.
Emergency declaration made in Connecticut
Crews were out all day around the state working to restore power. At one point on Sunday, almost 28,000 Eversource customers were without power. As service was restored, that number continued to drop throughout the evening.
Gov. Ned Lamont said Sunday evening that he was still concerned about flash floods, but that the outages would be brief. Georgia Power crews were dispatched to Connecticut to aid in the restoration of power.
Flooding occurred in the parking lot of the East Norwalk Boating & Yacht Club in Norwalk at noon due to high tide and storm surge. The parking light at the Harbor Lights restaurant was filled with water. When CBS2's Tony Aiello came at 9:45 a.m., there was no water.
The storm surge caused roughly two feet of water in some buildings along the Norwalk River and the Long Island Sound during Superstorm Sandy. That is not, however, what is expected as a result of Henri.
More than 20,000 people were without electricity as a result of this. After a poor reaction to Tropical Storm Isaias, Lamont claims the state has been hounding electricity firms to improve, and they've told him they're ready for whatever Henri delivers.
Hardwick, a municipality in Worcester County, had the greatest percentage of customers without power, at 28 percent, according to a map of outages in Massachusetts. Henri was downgraded to a tropical depression on Sunday night, according to the National Hurricane Center, as it loses strength as it passes through Southern New England.
The storm was forecast to bring severe rain and floods to regions of Southern New England through Monday, as per Boston Globe. The National Hurricane Center warned in a late Sunday update that heavy rain from Tropical Depression Henri will continue to cause flooding in parts of southern New England and the northern Mid-Atlantic.
The storm's strong rainfall could cause significant flash, urban, and small stream flooding. According to the center, minor to isolated moderate river flooding might occur in parts of Long Island, New Jersey, New England, New York, and northeast Pennsylvania.
Read Also: Haiti Despair, Anger Mount as Earthquake Toll Rises; Gangs Offer to Help Aid Efforts
Tropical Storm Henri socked the Northeast
As it made landfall on the shore of Rhode Island on Sunday, tropical storm Henri slammed into the Northeast with powerful gusts and lashing bands of rain, knocking out power to over 140,000 homes and producing deluges that shuttered bridges, flooded roads, and stranded some people in their cars.
Before approaching New England, the storm was downgraded from a hurricane, allowing many to breathe a sigh of relief, but the National Hurricane Center cautioned that the slow-moving storm will continue to drop heavy rainfall across large swathes of the region far into the weekend.
Per ABC News, persistent rainfall flooded areas as far southwest as New Jersey for two days, even as the storm was upgraded to tropical depression status. Overnight, the storm was expected to stall near the New York-Connecticut line before pivoting east and pushing out into the Atlantic Ocean on Monday.
Inland areas were likely to receive the most rain. Early on, there were few reports of serious coastal damage caused by wind or waves. President Joe Biden stated on Sunday that the federal government will assist residents in the affected states. The president declared disasters in much of the region, allowing the federal government to help with recovery efforts.
Biden had already expressed his condolences to the people of Tennessee, following severe floods caused by a separate storm that killed at least 22 people, including children and the elderly, and left scores more missing.
Related Article: Tennessee Flooding: 22 Dead, 60 Missing After Heavy Rainfall