Thousands of people are trapped in their homes, in a possible Katrina-like situation along Connecticut’s shoreline tonight, from Greenwich to Old Saybrook, and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is urging them to stay in their homes and move to higher levels to stay alive.
In an urgent and hastily called press briefing tonight at the State Armory in Hartford late Monday, the governor said thousands of shoreline residents, or their leaders, did not heed numerous and dire warnings state officials have issued over the past several days for residents in shoreline communities to leave their homes before Hurricane Sandy’s winds forced the waters of Long Island Sound to historic flood levels.
Now, Malloy said, those residents have no choice but to stay put and try to survive the night in their dwellings as the flood waters rise. Leaving now is not an option and poses a greater risk to them, Malloy said.
“Get to a higher floor, as high as you have to," the governor said. "Don’t be near a window because there’s a lot of wind and there’s nothing good to see at this point. Do not try to walk through (the water). Don’t try to swim through it do not try to drive through it."
“Our worst fears are being reached in terms of flooding conditions,” he added.
Malloy said he would assess later why so many people are stranded in their homes along the shoreline, despite numerous warnings by officials, including those in his office, that the storm was catastrophic and residents should leave. But he left open the idea that local leaders may not have heeded the warnings and may not have carried it to their citizenry.
