I was 6 years old but still remember some of this flood in Torrington. We were high enough to avoid the worst of it, but it still flooded our cellar and the back lawn looked like a river from the overflowing brook next to us. School opening was delayed because they were being used as shelters for people who lost everything.
this flood changed my life. We had just moved to Thomaston and we're living on Jackson Street . When the Reynolds Street Bridge went down we had no way to get to Thomaston and I had no way to start first grade so I went back to live with my grandparents in Fall River.
Hi Gerry, This is Suzanne Levesque. We lived in the last house (or first house depending on your direction) on Jackson Street when your family lived in what we called the Big House. My brother David and I played with you, Arthur, Maurice, and Louise then. Later, when you lived on East Main, our group also included baby Roland. It’s nice to “find” you here. The flood changed the neighborhood too, once the Army Corps of Engineers blasted through the mountain to connect Jackson Street to Reynolds Bridge. No more dead end dirt road and better access to town, but lots less peace and solitude.
That was great! Thanks for posting. I was born right during the flood, August 18, 1955 and I can't get enough of stories and photos of that time. Thank you!
We lived on Main Street in the Bradstreet building ,at this time, and was sent to my grandmother's in Northfield. I do remember Charlie, the cab-driver picking me up and how hard it was raining. I was only four years old but it did stick in my mind.
I was 11 years old at the time and lived on Treadwell Ave, known as the Weeksville section. Five houses went down the river, we were lucky to have a neighbor, Red Hart, go around the neighborhood Paul Revere style waking everyone to get out. We left with minutes to spare or we would have been trapped. Thomaston's one fatality came from this neighborhood..
Timothy - may we use some of your video on NBC Connecticut with proper credit to your uncle? You can reach me at ryan.hanrahan@nbcuni.com with any questions - this is phenomenal video!
Ryan - I haven't ck'd here for sometime and just saw your request to use my fathers footage of the flood of 55 in Thomaston CT....We'd be honored, please let me know if you do use the footage, I'd be interested in seeing how you incorporate it into your broadcast. Not sure if you're still interested... I posted this to youtube so my cousins son Timothy could use it for a school project. My name is Nancy Lundberg Vigeant, daughter of Arnold Lundberg - the footage was taken by Arnold and having him receive credit would be appreciated. Thank you for reaching out...and glad your enjoyed it.
Nancy - thank you for getting back to me! I am going to add this to our archive film of the event because I'm sure we'll be doing a story about the 55 flood again - probably next summer for the anniversary. We'll credit your father and I'll let you know when it will air! Do you know if all the film is from Thomaston? Thank you very much!!
I was 6 years old but still remember some of this flood in Torrington. We were high enough to avoid the worst of it, but it still flooded our cellar and the back lawn looked like a river from the overflowing brook next to us. School opening was delayed because they were being used as shelters for people who lost everything.
this flood changed my life. We had just moved to Thomaston and we're living on Jackson Street . When the Reynolds Street Bridge went down we had no way to get to Thomaston and I had no way to start first grade so I went back to live with my grandparents in Fall River.
Hi Gerry,
This is Suzanne Levesque. We lived in the last house (or first house depending on your direction) on Jackson Street when your family lived in what we called the Big House. My brother David and I played with you, Arthur, Maurice, and Louise then. Later, when you lived on East Main, our group also included baby Roland. It’s nice to “find” you here. The flood changed the neighborhood too, once the Army Corps of Engineers blasted through the mountain to connect Jackson Street to Reynolds Bridge. No more dead end dirt road and better access to town, but lots less peace and solitude.
Cool video
That was great! Thanks for posting. I was born right during the flood, August 18, 1955 and I can't get enough of stories and photos of that time. Thank you!
We lived on Main Street in the Bradstreet building ,at this time, and was sent to my grandmother's in Northfield. I do remember Charlie, the cab-driver picking me up and how hard it was raining. I was only four years old but it did stick in my mind.
I've heard about this flood since I was a kid.
Thank you for posting this great footage of it.
I read Grandma Lundberg's notes about the hurricane and then watched the video. So much damage--it just have been difficult to recover afterwards.
I was 11 years old at the time and lived on Treadwell Ave, known as the Weeksville section. Five houses went down the river, we were lucky to have a neighbor, Red Hart, go around the neighborhood Paul Revere style waking everyone to get out. We left with minutes to spare or we would have been trapped. Thomaston's one fatality came from this neighborhood..
I was told my dad helped rescue a pregnant lady in this flood
Timothy - may we use some of your video on NBC Connecticut with proper credit to your uncle? You can reach me at ryan.hanrahan@nbcuni.com with any questions - this is phenomenal video!
Ryan - I haven't ck'd here for sometime and just saw your request to use my fathers footage of the flood of 55 in Thomaston CT....We'd be honored, please let me know if you do use the footage, I'd be interested in seeing how you incorporate it into your broadcast. Not sure if you're still interested... I posted this to youtube so my cousins son Timothy could use it for a school project. My name is Nancy Lundberg Vigeant, daughter of Arnold Lundberg - the footage was taken by Arnold and having him receive credit would be appreciated. Thank you for reaching out...and glad your enjoyed it.
Nancy - thank you for getting back to me! I am going to add this to our archive film of the event because I'm sure we'll be doing a story about the 55 flood again - probably next summer for the anniversary. We'll credit your father and I'll let you know when it will air! Do you know if all the film is from Thomaston? Thank you very much!!