The power of rushing, rising water

(WTNH) - Water -- it's a powerful force and one we shouldn't take lightly. Flooding isn't new for us New Englanders, but this is no ordinary spring. To understand the power of all that water is to understand the power of all that snow.

Our record-breaking winter quickly showed us how unforgiving nature can be. Storm after storm after storm. And with each winter blast came problems. Lots of them, from blocked streets to collapsed roofs.

It felt like there was no end in sight.

But on the horizon was the promise of spring and better days to come. As we soon discovered it's not always that easy. An understatement for sure.

Water is a dominate force that has time and time again created havoc. we saw it first hand this spring with the damage caused by heavy rains and widespread floods. Damage that had many of you asking what do we do now.

"I see the water rising higher and higher and higher. I tried to tie down my docks," A.J. Monoc of Oxford told News 8 back in March. "Next thing you know I have three feet of water and I had no time to do anything but lock up the house, jump in the truck and watch the water accumulate higher and higher. I've never seen it so bad."

It's a scene that played out over and over again in early March.

"I went to go open the door and it all came flooding in," Sharon White, Oxford told News 8.

Snow melt and heavy rains became the perfect combination to disrupt people's lives in a big way.

*****SOMEONE NEED A NAME **** It took our fence, it ripped our fence right off the posts, it swirled things out of our basement and they're down there somewhere, I mean, we're fortunate that the cars didn't go down the river really."

There was no such luck for some folks who saw their vehicles and homes submerged by rising rivers.

"It's a horrible thing that these are actual homes now that had been converted over from cottages, and now people have to go through this," Dave Pavlik of Seymour said. "I just can't believe it."

It was disasterous for those living downstream from the Stevenson Dam. The Housatonic River was ruthless in its fury.

"I don't think I've ever seen it like this in a good 30 years," Rory Polizzo of Bridgeport told us. "Even after strong rains like this and you might come by just out of curiosity, and it's never this bad."

Homeowner Terry Hicks said it was "the worst I've seen and I've lived here almost 21 years." Hicks and her family not only lost electricity and heat but had to deal with underwater vehicles and a basement at the mercy of the raging water.

The story was much the same in Wallingford, where voluntary evacuations took place in the night at a mobile home park after an angry river surrounded about 80 homes.

Places like the Maples in Shelton were not spared. The power of the water released upriver at the Stevenson Dam flooded homes on the banks of the Housatonic. Businesses also felt the pinch, their stores posing as islands. Many closed as water lapped at their doorsteps.

Once the waters receded the ugly truth about the damage was easy to witness.

Folks living along the Pomperaug River sure felt the pain, clearing out basements and trying to save anything at all.

Despite the tiresome clean-up and the frustrations many felt, we in New England know bad weather comes with the territory; A fact of life you can't ignore and one many learn to live with.