Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services Assisting with Those Impacted by Floods
By Regan Stoddard and Abigail Murillo Villacorta
Published: Aug. 21, 2024 at 4:11 PM EDT | Updated: 19 hours ago
OXFORD, Conn. (WGGB/WSHM) - Disaster relief efforts continue in areas of Connecticut after historic amounts of rain this past Sunday caused severe damage.
“Areas where 300 plus foot of road is gone, bridges that are gone, the entire roadway, and to see people’s live change so much is tough to see,” said Don Scacco.
Towns in Connecticut like Southbury, Oxford, and Seymour were among the worst hit this past weekend with heavy rainfall causing landslides, flooding, and road collapses.
Western Mass News spoke with Don Scacco, Vice President of Electric Field Operations for Connecticut Eversource about the work he and his teams have been providing since Sunday afternoon.
“Our people went in there with special equipment, track vehicles, and just thought of the most genius ways to bring our power back to these people,” noted Scacco.
He told us they had thousands of customers out of power.
“It’s kind of shocking you know, seeing areas where all of our facilities, all of our poles and wires, are just devastated, just completely washed away,” added Scacco.
Western Mass News also checked in with The Salvation Army and were directed to Major Gilbert Parkhurst with The Salvation Army currently stationed in Connecticut.
“We set up an emergency canteen truck at what’s called the war memorial in Danbury, and we assisted the emergency personal and the families that were being evacuated there,” explained Major Parkhurst.
Parkhurst, his son, and other volunteers like Chip Carpenter have handed out nearly 140 meals to displaced families.
“It’s in the heart, we come out, every first responder, everyone that is coming out here, it's coming from their heart,” said Carpenter with The Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services team, which is also out offering food and water to those in need. Chip and the EDS volunteers received a drawing from one of the children.
“When folks lose a lot like that people don’t realize how a smile can bring by giving them a chocolate milk or strawberry milk,” added Major Parkhurst.
But, its more than just assisting with meals.
“It gives the opportunity to for them to open up a little bit, and because they have so much stress inside, not only do we give out food and drinks but lend a listening ear,” said Major Parkhurst.
Parkhurst told us that him and his team plan to be in Oxford, Connecticut through the weekend to continue to help with disaster relief.