Stamford Cleanup Continues Around the Clock

STAMFORD, Conn. — Hurricane Irene has disrupted everybody’s life in some way over the past week, but no one had it as bad as Stamford’s maintenance workers. Many of them had not even been home because they were working so many hours to clear trees and clean up the city.

“I had no contact with my wife for 48 hours,” Ed DeCamillo said, explaining that he lost power at home and worked while his family was in the dark. He drove by the house a couple of times just to make sure everything was all right.

Starting two days before Irene hit, the workers began checking and moving equipment from Shippan to higher elevation areas that are less prone to flooding, delivering sandbags to fire houses and the government center, and making other preparations for the storm.

Once the storm hit Stamford, the city employees plunged into the cleanup work and started to slow down only by Wednesday afternoon after every road in Stamford had reopened. They had been working around the clock, getting only a couple of hours off to nap — which often took place in a truck, DeCamillo said.

The employees from the office of operations and parks department did whatever cleanup was needed, regardless of their job classification. “Everybody did whatever they could do,” Paul Vakos said. Custodians were out on the roads, clearing roadways and completing other tasks.

The top priority was clearing more than 150 blocked roads in the city and more than 500 fallen trees. While driving to one location to clear, Travis Hoyt had to stop and take care of a fallen tree that had not been reported.

“It was like we had to plow the streets,” Hoyt said, comparing Irene’s debris to snowfall.

What do you think of the job city employees have done cleaning up the city so far? Share below and become a part of the conversation or email your thoughts to reporter Anthony Buzzeo, tbuzzeo@TheDailyStamford.com. 

Click here to follow Daily Voice Stamford and receive free news updates.