Farmington Town Manager Erica LaCroix was in only her second week on the job when the Sandy River swelled in December, spilling six feet of water in the Intervale area by Main and Front streets, submerging businesses like McDonald’s and Walgreens.
As the river and its tributaries flooded and road closures mounted, LaCroix said Farmington relied on town employees and firefighters to field calls from residents on how to travel around safely. LaCroix said the sheer speed of the flooding caught her and other officials by surprise, making it even more difficult to disseminate information in real time.
“Locally, we don’t have any real instant notification to the public at all. We don’t have a software, (nor) social media page,” LaCroix said.