extreme weather

Flooding Resources

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Updated on July 24, 2023

Many of our communities are affected by the statewide flooding from the Connecticut River after heavy rains in New York and Vermont. Flooding conditions continued after more rain arrived. UConn Extension has the following resources to support agricultural producers, consumers, residents, and others affected. You can also sign up for mobile weather alerts by visiting weather.gov and CT Alerts. Anyone in a Disaster area can use the Ready.gov disaster recovery resources.

Ask a Question

UConn Extension provides answers you can trust. Our educators can also connect with agricultural producers, residents, and businesses individually. Ask us a question.

Agricultural Producers

Agricultural lands in central and northwestern Connecticut have flooded. The examples below are courtesy of farms along the Connecticut River.

Soil and Water Testing

Soil testing can help determine the extent of damage and any soil remediation needed. Visit our soil lab online for more information.

Water testing is also advised in some situations. Visit our website for more resources on how to get water tested in Connecticut.

State and Federal Reporting

In an effort to better understand the scope of the situation, we are asking producers to share estimated losses with us through our online reporting tool. This data will be shared with USDA Farm Service Agency and UConn Extension. By filling out this information it will assist these entities in determining if a disaster declaration can be obtained. Your farm name and contact information is not required, but if you would like to be contacted, please share that.

If you have not done so, please also contact your local Farm Service Agency county office to report your damages as well as your insurance agent to report impacts for covered crops. USDA disaster assistance information can be found on farmers.gov, including USDA resources specifically for producers impacted by flooding. For FSA programs eligibility, producers should contact their local USDA Service Center.

Food Safety

UConn Extension is part of the Produce Safety Alliance, and there are guidelines for flooded farms. We also recommend reviewing our farm worker training video series (y en Español) as the principles will help guide farm recovery after a flood.

Equine

Equine owners also need to be cognizant of disaster preparation, especially floods, and we have specific recommendations for these situations as well as on preparing for equine disasters.

Residents

Our team offers the following advice on extreme flooding:

Recommendations include: avoid areas with extreme flooding, as little as six inches of water can cause problems, do not drive through flooded water, check weather forecasts, and sign up for mobile alerts.

Flooding and erosion also cause issues on beach properties. Our Sea Grant program has a checklist for coastal hazards.

There are emergency preparedness resources for all residents available at our Adapt CT program. Coastal homeowners and businesses can also use resources specifically made for their situation.

Food Safety

Flooding sometimes impacts homes and gardens too. We have the following resources to help in those situations:

Soil and Water Testing

Soil testing can help determine the extent of damage and any soil remediation needed. Visit our soil lab online for more information.

Water testing is also advised in some situations. Visit our website for more resources on how to get water tested in Connecticut.

Municipalities

We have programs to help municipalities with stormwater and flooding, including the MS4 (Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems) and the Adapt CT program for climate adaptation, including flooding in coastal and other communities. There are also fact sheets available:

Governmental Resources

Many state and national organizations have programs and resources that can help with extreme flooding:

Resources from Other Extension Systems

From the National Healthy Homes Project

Putting People First is the focus so they will protect their health during the cleanup and restoration process.

Thanks to the National Center for Healthy Housing (NCHH) and Enterprise Community Partners, A Field Guide for Flooded Home Cleanup (also available in Spanish) has received a makeover. The widely-used guide was first developed nearly 15 years ago to teach safe mold removal practices in hurricane-damaged homes.

In addition, NCHH has a free online training course to educate homeowners and contractors in mold removal safety.

The Rebuild Healthy Homes Guide was developed to help homeowners, volunteers, and other workers to restore damaged homes in a way that puts people first. It includes how-to methods, tips, and improvement ideas for safe restoration that result in not just a livable dwelling, but a healthy home that offers even more than before.

USDA Ready to Help Connecticut Farmers and Ranchers Recover from Extreme Weather

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USDA Ready to Help Connecticut Farmers and Ranchers Recover from Extreme Weather

TOLLAND, Connecticut, November 15, 2021 — Recent extreme weather conditions have impacted farmers in Connecticut. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), through the Farm Service Agency (FSA), has disaster assistance programs available to help agricultural producers recover after natural disasters, including flooding and wind events.

FSA offers a variety of disaster assistance programs to support farmers through times of adversity.  Many disaster programs have a 30-day window to report losses, so once producers are able to evaluate their losses, it is important to contact the local FSA office to report all damages and losses and learn more about how we can assist.

FSA offers many programs to help producers recover from losses, including the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP), the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP), Emergency Forest Restoration Program and the Tree Assistance Program. Producers located in counties receiving a primary or contiguous disaster designation are eligible for low-interest emergency loans to help them recover from production and physical losses.

To participate in LIP, producers must submit a notice of loss to their local FSA office within 30 calendar days of when the loss of livestock is apparent. In addition, livestock producers should bring supporting evidence, including documentation of the number and kind of livestock that died, photographs or video records to document the loss, purchase records, veterinarian records, production records, and other similar documents. Owners who sold injured livestock for a reduced price because the livestock was injured due to an adverse weather event, must provide verifiable evidence of the reduced sale of the livestock.

To participate in ELAP, producers must submit a notice of loss to their local FSA office within 30 calendar days of when the loss is apparent. Producers should also maintain records and receipts documenting that livestock were removed from the grazing pasture due to adverse weather, costs of transporting livestock feed to eligible livestock, receipts for equipment rental fees for hay lifts, and feed purchase receipts.

The FSA Emergency Conservation Program provides funding and technical assistance for farmers and ranchers to rehabilitate farmland damaged by natural disasters.

Compensation is also available to producers who purchased coverage through FSA’s  Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program, which protects non-insurable crops against natural disasters that result in lower yields, crop losses or prevented planting. Eligible producers must have purchased NAP coverage for 2021 crops and file a notice of loss and application for payment on qualifying crops

Please contact your local FSA office for more information about our disaster assistance programs or resources are available online at farmers.gov, where we offer a Disaster Assistance Discovery Tool and a disaster-at-a-glance brochure.