New Haven Register call to 'Fix Deathtrap on Morgan Lane'

Today's New Haven Register had two articles on last Sunday's storm with torrential downpours, and the horrifying and tragic death of Gladys Padula, who died when her van was submerged in flash flooding under Morgan Lane:

• Opinion: Fix Deathtrap on Morgan Lane
• Police Intensify underpass probe

My heart goes out to Michael Padula and the couple's two children.

Apparently there has been some finger pointing towards Public Works, Police Department, dispatching, Metro North Railroad, etc. Some have even accused the town of trying to save money by not forming an emergency crew -- but I really do find that hard to believe.

I think P0lice Chief Ron Quagliani states it well in the second article when he says :

"This was not a predictable event. This is not like a hurricane we could prepare for. This was a flash flood that I haven’t seen the likes of in years," he said, adding that flooding hasn’t occurred in that area since a retention pond was installed in that area in the 1980s.

Given the tight time line provided between the police first being notified of flooding at 10:37, and the call of Gladys' van going under at 11:05, I dont' think that anyone wasn't responsive to the problem. According to the article, the police were called, reponded to the initial problem and brought the initial car driver to nearby Bailey to meet up with a called ride, called dispatch who called Public Works, who assembled an emergency crew for the problem within 45 minutes of the initial call.

While it could be argued that the police officer should have stayed there to flag down drivers, they would have been on the wrong side of the problem, as best I can tell. I suppose had someone been on the scene, they might have jumped in after Gladys - but they might not have been able to help even then.

The southbound sign was obscured by brush (no good), and there was no northbound sign, which was the direction that Gladys was travelling. Given the visibility, that might not have mattered.

The bottom line is that we received nearly 7 inches of rain in a very short amount of time, flash flooding occurred, visibility was poor, and one would expect that Gladys didn't know that the water was there or that deep. While I agree that steps should be taken so this will never happen again, I don't think it could have been predicted, particularly given the work to prevent flooding from the area.