The town’s top official declared a state of emergency Wednesday night, acknowledging she has exhausted all resources dealing with the repercussions of a massive, six-mile-long ice jam backing up the Connecticut River.
“I want to be more proactive than reactive,” said First Selectwoman Lizz Milardo, considering the weekend is coming and that the town has a non-paid fire and EMS force. “Everyone in this town is a volunteer.
“It gives me the tools to put everyone on notice to say, ‘This is what we have to do.’ If I have to force any evacuations, I can. If I need to close roads, I can.”
Her appeal to the governor cited “a condition of danger to life and property.”
Temperature fluctuations are the culprit. The river froze, then melted with the rain last weekend, then froze again, Milardo said. “We don’t really know how thick it is or how deep it is.”