One Family's Irene Tragedy

“When we first came here the whole front of the house was blown out,” said Groveway resident Ray Fontana.  “There was one side gone and people started to look in and they kept looking like we were supposed to feed them,” said Fontana, laughing. “We put up two 4x8’s just so people wouldn’t look in on us.”

Now, a day later, work is underway to try and repair Fontana’s home. The neighborhood was a beehive of activity as cleanup, in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene, progressed.  Neighbors walked by offering assistance with cleanup and others invited those without power to come down to eat what they were preparing on their outdoor grill.

While some houses looked almost untouched, others were devastated by the waters that rushed in Saturday evening into Sunday morning.

Fontana didn’t stay around when officials suggested evacuation. 

Asked if it was a mandatory evacuation Fontana said, “We just got out because it was good sense, period.”  

He and his wife, Lynda, retreated to his son Chip’s house in Westbrook. 

“What difference would it make if it was mandatory (evacuation).  You should get the hell out of there when they told you to get out,” he added.  "Anybody that stayed was crazy, it was that bad!”

Upon returning to his home he found total devastation, “a tidal wave came over our wall,” he explained. 

Newly finished hardwood floors were coated with mud, furniture and bits and pieces of shingles from the outside of the house lay in a heap in the middle of the living room.

Fighting back tears, Lynda walked through her house toward the water.  She explained that they did everything they thought would protect their house, but it was not a deterrent to Hurricane Irene. 

“We had the storm windows down and then we had a very heavy blue tarp, coated and padded, it was nailed all across the top (of the house’s casings),” Lynda explained.  But that was not protection enough for what Irene brought to the Clinton shoreline.

“Ray’s first reaction was ‘are my 1st edition leather bound books still here?’” laughed Lynda.  “They were,” she added. 

In addition, she was able to save some original artwork she has collected over the years.

Choking back tears Lynda explained that in May she had all the carpeting pulled up and hardwood floors installed.  “You can see pieces of glass everywhere.  All the upholstered furniture is ruined.”  

Diagonally across the street summer resident Brian Drechsler used a power washer to clean mud off the front of his home.

“It’s a lot better than it could be,” he said. 

Riding down from his home in Southington he expected the worse, but found only external damage.

Work will continue for quite some time on Groveway, but Fontana doesn’t seem too terribly concerned.

“We’ve got people coming by here and they are so kind,” said Fontana.  “Everyone wants to help out.”