OXFORD, CT — A year after the disastrous rains that flooded Oxford and other parts of western Connecticut, destroying roads and wiping out bridges, Steven Rostkowski still finds himself a little bothered when he watches the news and sees people say they lost everything in a natural disaster.
Rostkowski, whose wife Audrey was one of two fatalities in last year’s flooding, disagrees.
“You lost your possessions,” he said at a memorial dedication ceremony Monday morning. “Audrey was the love of my life. She was my everything.”
Chaz Brown, the son of Ethelyn Joiner, the other woman to die in the Aug. 18, 2024, floods, had a similar sentiment.
“I lost not only my mother, but also my mentor, my best friend, and many other things that she was,” he said.
In just the past week, Joiner could have added another title: grandmother. Brown said four days ago his son, Kairo, would have become Ethelyn’s first grandchild.
On the anniversary of the floods, Oxford dedicated a memorial at Kirk’s Pond, adjacent to town hall. The memorial includes a pair of benches that overlook the pond, a memorial plaque and a red maple tree.
Rostkowski said the choice of tree was appropriate for the two women lost in the flood.
“Ethelyn and Audrey were very strong people, and this is a strong tree,” he said.
And inside, sweet sap flows through its veins, he said. Joiner was known around town for her work as a library volunteer, and Rostkowski for her work as a church volunteer preparing meals for others.
Oxford First Selectman George Temple said a year after the 16-inch deluge, the pain of that day remains for those affected, but so too does the strength the community found in one another.
“Our community did not falter,” he said. “In the aftermath of the storm, our town came together to rebuild. People opened their homes, hearts and wallets to help in whatever way they could.”
Temple said the events of Aug. 18, 2024, would “forever be woven into the fabric of our town.”
In addition to the two lives lost when their vehicles were washed off Route 67 during the flood, more than 100 others had to be rescued or evacuated from the rushing water. Up to 16 inches of rain fell during a 6-to-8 hour period in some locations, and the storm washed out at least 27 different roads and bridges throughout the region.
Then-President Joe Biden signed off on the state’s emergency declaration, meaning federal resources could be used to offset 75% of the costs involved with the state’s recovery in Fairfield, New Haven and Litchfield counties.
Gov. Ned Lamont also announced a $5 million grant program to help affected local businesses recover from the devastating storm.
The state also established the Severe Weather Mitigation and Resiliency Advisory Council in October 2024 to better help protect residents from the growing impacts of severe rainstorms and related damage in the future.