Long-suffering residents of Hartford's North End say they're pleased the state of Connecticut is responding to chronic flooding problems in their neighborhood. The flooding, over a period of decades, has been traced to antiquated main sewer lines which overflow and back up into homes when storm water rushes in.
Gov. Ned Lamont (D) is releasing $85 million towards a pilot program which will install backflow preventers and use other measures to protect more than 3,500 properties. The Metropolitan District Commission (MDC), which operates the water and sewer lines through Hartford, will match that state funding to fill out the project's estimated $170 million price tag-- without raising MDC rates, according to state officials.
"State taxpayers are putting up half of this through bonding and the MDC ratepayers are doing another piece of this, and we're just getting started," says Gov. Lamont. "These poor people have waited here for decades. The idea that the flooding and sewage have been there. We're going to be able take care of this. We're not going to leave until we get it right."
The state is also introducing the Hartford Sewerage System Repair and Improvement Fund, which will provide grants to residents impacted by flood damage since Jan. 1, 2021.
"It's helpful for me because I now get to save a lot of money that I was going to have to pay out," says resident Nakeda Parkes, who has suffered storm damage at her Granby Street home and hosted state officials for a news conference Monday.
Residents and state officials believe flooding in the North End has been ignored over the years because it's a predominantly Black neighborhood.
"I'm happy that this is a good start, but I'm disappointed that it took this long," says state Sen. Doug McCrory (D-Hartford), who grew up in the neighborhood. "I've faced this flood ever since I was a child. Everybody passed the buck to the next person to the next person to the next person. Until it got out of hand."