After a devastating flood in Oxford, Conn., the town marked the reopening of the last of seven damaged bridges, celebrating resilience and quick rebuilding efforts. Nearby Southbury also is recovering, facing challenges with bridges and funding for reconstruction projects post-flooding.
Officials in Oxford, Conn., hailed the reopening of the town's Park Road bridge on the morning of March 25, 2025, which marked the completion of the seventh and final bridge replacement project there following catastrophic flooding that hit the area more than seven months ago.
Park Road had been closed since the historic Aug. 18, 2024, flooding event, which saw torrential rains wreak havoc on area homes, roads, bridges and culverts in that part of western Connecticut.
Oxford was among the hardest hit communities in the area. Two of its residents lost their lives after being swept away as they drove along state Highway 67 when their cars became trapped in water that rose as much as six ft. above the banks of nearby Little River.
Oxford First Selectman George Temple gathered with dozens of town officials for a ribbon-cutting ceremony while standing at the site of the new bridge. The event was a celebration of both the Park Road bridge's reopening and the overall resilience of the community.
"This is the culmination of a lot of blood, sweat and tears for the people of Oxford," Temple said. "It goes back to the devastation of that flood, and this is the final stage of the recovery. I think the town is going to be able to withstand the storm. I guess that's a metaphor for the real storm that caused all this damage."
He added that he is confident the new structure has been built to survive a similar flood in the future. The previous bridge gave way during the flooding and then later, in December, a Revolutionary War-era stone archway that was beneath the bridge also collapsed.
Brennan Construction in Shelton needed fewer than six months to complete the rebuilding effort, leading Temple to add in his remarks that similar projects in the past, not connected to the storm, often took two years to finish.
Oxford town officials told CT Post that the total cost for reconstruction of flood-damaged local roads will likely come in around $8 million, of which the town is hoping to receive about a 70 percent reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Nearby Southbury Still Recovering
Meanwhile, not too far northwest, Southbury is another small town heavily impacted by last summer's flooding and its Old Field Road is the only roadway yet to be reopened, CT Post reported.
Jeffrey Manville, a Southbury First Selectman, said the bridge there was one of dozens in the community destroyed by the flooding. However, its reconstruction is taking longer to complete because it had already been earmarked for replacement and was in the design phase prior to the destructive rains, meaning it is not eligible for FEMA reimbursement.
Regardless, Southbury town officials have said that they are moving ahead with the Old Field Road bridge project just as they would have had there not been any flooding. They expect the roadway to reopen later in the spring.
The town suffered an estimated $10 million in damage from the flood, a total that is slightly higher than that of Oxford. That was due, in part, to the fact Southbury's losses included more local roads, while much of Oxford's damage was centered along Conn. 67. Those repairs were the responsibility of the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT).
Damage also was heavy at the Southbury Public Library on Poverty Road where the basement and all of the building's mechanical infrastructure were destroyed by the raging floodwaters.
Manville announced that the library is scheduled to reopen by November 2025, meaning it will have ended up being closed for a total of 15 months. However, he expressed his disappointment that Southbury has not received additional funding for the building's reconstruction.
"The state and federal government … told [us] that we were going to get help," he said in speaking with CT Post. "The library in Hartford received $1 million for water damage, but we have received nothing."
In the meantime, the town recently established a temporary library in the lobby of the Heritage Hotel.
Southbury also is looking to replace the three tennis courts at Community House Park, all of which were ruined as a result of the floodwaters.
Manville also is unhappy that his community is not being provided the level of funds to "build back better," noting that most of Southbury's roads have simply been repaired to the state they were before the August 2024 storm and are still susceptible to future floods.
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