Flash Flood — New Haven, Connecticut

2024-08-18 · near White Oaks, New Haven, Connecticut

Event narrative

Old Waterbury Road at Old Highway closed due to flooding.

Wider weather episode

A frontal system over the area on August 18th allowed for the development of rain early in the morning. As the day progressed, mesoscale features including multiple boundary interactions and a mesolow allowed thunderstorms to continue to intensify with persistent back-building and training over the same areas in southern Connecticut. These thunderstorms produced anywhere from 3-4.5 inch per hour rainfall rates resulting in several considerable Flash Flood Warnings and a Flash Flood Emergency being issued. Numerous rescues, road and bridge washouts, and several mudslides resulted in widespread damage. Several large-stem rivers including the Naugatuck, Pomperaug, Housatonic, and Still Rivers all reached major flood stage at some point during the day as a result of a widespread 5-8 inches of rainfall with localized amounts of up to 12-13 inches. Unfortunately, 3 people lost their lives in Connecticut as a result of the flash flooding.

Preliminary damage assessment costs for Fairfield County is $5.8 million and New Haven County is $4 million. This is not a final number.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (41.4900, -73.1900)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1213888. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.