'A Swift and Deadly Maelstrom: the Great Norwich Flood of 1963, a Survivors Story

A Swift and Deadly Maelstrom The Great Norwich Flood of 1963 A Survivors Story by Thomas R. Moody Jr. The winter of 1962-63 in Norwich Connecticut had been unbearable. Snow, ice and sub-freezing temperatures added to an already gloomy and drawn out New England winter, one which had seen its onset begin virtually at the end of the summer of 1962. Spaulding Pond in Mohegan Park, a large wooded enclave in the northern section of town, was abundantly full again this Wednesday, March 6th. So full in fact that it once again posed a challenge to the 110 year old dam by which it was held in place and where a small leak, another in an ever growing line of recent seepages, was now discovered this afternoon by park workers and reported up to the Public Works Director, himself a witness to these myriad other leaks, and who would summarily dismiss it this day as understood leakage. And so it was on this Wednesday March 6th, 1963 that Norwich Public Works foreman Monroe Cilley first noticed leakage coming from the southeast side of the dam. After a day of digging ditches in and around the park and checking catch basins throughout the area, Cilley, along with fellow employee Clarence Vantour, returned to the dam at around 4:00 p.m. to check the spillway for trees, debris or other obstructions following the days saturating rains. In the immediate downstream area of the dam, there was a small, gravel based, square duck pond which now, upon closer observation was also immensely flooded over. The two men initially attributed this to the recent torrential rains as indeed it was sprinkling even now, but observing the dam up close, Cilley now noticed that water was clearly trickling through it on the eastern end at a point above the southern retaining wall and down the south face and into the small pond. Somewhat alarmed, he now suggested that he and Vantour get out of their truck and perform an inspection at closer range. This time, unfortunately, this minor leakage episode would be different. A Swift and Deadly Maelstrom is the true, fully documented story of a horrible tragedy borne out of ignorance and complacency. As he (Norwich Public Works Director Harold Walz) entered the park on Mohegan Park Rd., driving past the skating pond and travelling north to the immediate east of the dam, he suddenly heard a sound that gave him pause. Slowing his car and opening his window, he heard the unmistakable and unnerving sound of rushing water. Clearly concerned, he quickly maneuvered his headlights onto the south face of the dam and there he now saw water gushing out of a fist sized hole above the base rock wall. This breach was in a different location from where hed observed the earlier seepage; it was lower and more easterly and thus presented a whole new and dangerous development in the dams integrity. Instantly understanding that he had a catastrophic problem on his hands, one with enormous consequences, Walz, again in his personal car and with no radio, raced into action, turning his car around and dashing down to the Public Works garage on Brook St. Arriving there, he rushed in and spoke with night foreman Angelo Yeitz, immediately ordering him to send a worker back up to the dam. I just came down from the dam and we might lose it. he exclaimed. It is also the story, alternately, of life saving heroics, of the efforts of two young men, suddenly trapped in the ensuing floodwaters, to rescue three very young children, those that would tragically lose their mother in this disaster. With a manic survival instinct now taking hold, the adults, while struggling, managed to somehow re-orient themselves while upside down. The doors to the car had sprung open in the crash and while the onrushing flow cascaded through the overturned car, Ronnie, Honey and Tony all managed to locate the children and physically grasp them before the unthinkable could occur. Noticing their proximity to the, for now, dr