Flood Night – Saturday, October 15th
Saturday dawned with the same torrential downpour and showed no signs of letting up. When the afternoon paper, THE NORWALK HOUR arrived, residents read in amazement that the forecast predicted only “drizzle” for the day.
That evening, young Norwalkers did what they usually did on a Saturday night; they went to the movies (To Hell and Back was playing at the Norwalk Theatre), they went out to dinner, they went to parties or they just got together with friends. The older folk probably stayed home and watched Perry Como on TV.
But the rain didn’t stop. By 10 o’clock that night the city was beginning to feel a sense of emergency. Roads were starting to flood and the dams along the rivers were beginning to give. People scurried to get home – or away from the rivers. Police and firemen reported for duty and the wild night began.
“When I reported in at the stations, they sent me to a building on Wall Street that was close to falling in the river. Ben Joyce, a volunteer, said his mother in the building and asked me to try to get her out – she was on the third floor. I ran up the stairs and knocked on the door and told her she needed to get out of the building and she said, ‘I need to get dressed first.’ I said, ‘Lady, you don’t have time. You need to leave now.’ She said, ‘No, I can’t leave until I have my corset on.’ At that point, I knew we couldn’t wait. I went in, threw her over my shoulder and brought her out. The building fell a few minutes later.”
Robert Spielman, 2005
Norwalk Fire Department
“At 10 pm, the police Emergency Mobilization Plan was made operational – the Police Department dispatched officers to the neighborhoods that were certain to be affected. The policemen made use of loudspeakers to urge residents to take to higher ground.”
Seymour S. Weisman, Ph.D., 1958
A CASE STUDY OF A FLOOD STRICKEN CITY
“At about 11 o’clock, we got a call to get over to the Cross Street Bridge. There was a car, water up to the hood, washed up against a telephone pole with a man sitting on the hood. One of the firemen, Walt Smith, waded out and got him on his shoulder, but suddenly the current got very rapid and strong. They grabbed the telephone pole and hung on. A man was sent from the telephone company and using a machine, he ratcheted himself from one pole to the other on the lowest wire (not a live wire) to where Walt Smith was with the man. He brought the man back, then we went back and he got Walt. There were trees coming down. Just then the electrical station blew up. I thought for sure we were all going to get electrocuted.”
Paul Harris, 2005
Norwalk Fire Department
“At about 11 pm the Georgetown and Armstrong Dams collapsed. A dike was cut through the Perry Avenue Dam. The Buttery Mill Dam on the Silvermine River and the Bradley Dam near Cannon Street gave way sometime during the flood.”
Seymour S. Weisman, Ph.D., 1958
A CASE STUDY OF A FLOOD STRICKEN CITY
“My family owned the building where WNLK was located. My father got a call that the building was in trouble, so we went down. We were standing across the street – I’ll never forget the horrible roar when the building collapsed.”
Alden Harris, 2005
“Our store, Sexton’s Electrical Supply, was located at 26 Main Street and I lived upstairs over the store with my wife and kids. At about 11:30 or 12:00 the sound of rattling metal woke us up. We looked out the window and saw debris going down the street. Then I couldn’t believe what I saw – a car on the street was swept away by water and crashed into a street light pole – the car just wrapped around the pole.
“The police were telling people to evacuate. I got my family out onto High Street and went back to help. I was walking up Main Street when the sidewalk entrance door to Norwalk Hardwar ‘exploded’. All of the stock from their basement flew out and washed down Main Street. I watched as the glass was blown out of other stores.
“The WNLK building went down at about 1:00 or 2:00 am. The water went about eight feet over the Wall Street Bridge then it went down into the alley and took the Norwalk Boat Club out. It was like a tidal wave of water.”
Don Sexton, 2005