{"id":300,"date":"2025-06-03T16:48:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T20:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/?p=300"},"modified":"2025-07-02T12:27:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T16:27:11","slug":"sharon-lewis-a-flood-led-to-resilience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/2025\/06\/03\/sharon-lewis-a-flood-led-to-resilience\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharon Lewis: A Flood Led to Resilience"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

By Julianna D\u2019Addona
UConn Journalism<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

On Dec. 4, 2022, flood\u00ading from a com\u00adbined sewage over\u00adflow destroyed prop\u00ader\u00adty, keep\u00adsakes, and appli\u00adances in the house of Hartford res\u00adi\u00addent Sharon Lewis. The after\u00admath of the flood also destroyed her con\u00adfi\u00addence in her insur\u00adance cov\u00ader\u00adage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lewis had lived in the house at 32\u201334 Rutland Street most of her life and was about to move out of it, stor\u00ading her belong\u00adings in mov\u00ading boxes in the base\u00adment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then came a rain\u00adstorm on Saturday, Dec. 3, 2022. Lewis told the mov\u00ading com\u00adpa\u00adny to delay the move by one day so they would not track mud in the house. According to a law\u00adsuit Lewis later filed, it rained between 3 and 4 tenths of an inch that day.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She and her hus\u00adband woke up Sunday morn\u00ading to a cold and dry house. Thinking there was a prob\u00adlem with the heat, she asked her hus\u00adband to go down\u00adstairs and push the reset but\u00adton for the fur\u00adnace.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon open\u00ading the door to the base\u00adment, Lewis\u2019 hus\u00adband dis\u00adcov\u00adered water had flood\u00aded up to the basement\u2019s fourth step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI get up, I go down\u00adstairs, open the kitchen door and\u2014oh, my God\u2014water was about to come up to the kitchen. I\u2019m freak\u00ading out because my freez\u00ader is float\u00ading. I can see sewage from all over the neigh\u00adbor\u00adhood float\u00ading in the water. I total\u00adly freaked out,\u201d Lewis said in a vir\u00adtu\u00adal inter\u00adview on March 12, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That day, the fur\u00adnace was sub\u00admerged and the oil tank was lift\u00aded off its legs and spilled oil into the base\u00adment, accord\u00ading to the law\u00adsuit Lewis filed in 2024.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While a neigh\u00adbor called the fire depart\u00adment, Lewis remem\u00adbered just run\u00adning up the street, feel\u00ading as though the phone did not work fast enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fire depart\u00adment said it could not pump the flood\u00adwa\u00adter because it was not clean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frantic, Lewis called Hartford city offi\u00adcials, who sent an inspec\u00adtor. According to the law\u00adsuit, on Dec. 4, staff mem\u00adbers from the city,  MDC, and elec\u00adtric com\u00adpa\u00adny (Eversource) came that day. A city inspec\u00adtor ordered the water and elec\u00adtric\u00adi\u00adty turned off and told Lewis and her hus\u00adband they must vacate until repairs could be made, accord\u00ading to the law\u00adsuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lewis said the flood destroyed every\u00adthing she owned as it sat wait\u00ading to be moved out of the house. \u201cI\u2019m a col\u00adlec\u00adtor, and I like antiques. I had so many antiques from slav\u00adery, from the deep South. I mean, things that I cher\u00adished my entire life. Gone. Couldn\u2019t touch it, had to be thrown away.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said she lost fam\u00adi\u00adly heir\u00adlooms, pho\u00adtos, the fam\u00adi\u00adly Bible and fam\u00adi\u00adly doc\u00adu\u00adments. \u201cEverything is gone. It\u2019s like my whole life dis\u00adap\u00adpeared overnight,\u201d Lewis said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From a hotel on Windsor Street, Lewis called her insur\u00adance com\u00adpa\u00adny, which told her that the inci\u00addent was not cov\u00adered. Lewis, who had worked as an insur\u00adance under\u00adwriter for many years, said, \u201cI was shocked, total\u00adly speech\u00adless\u201d because insur\u00adance had cov\u00adered her family\u2019s ear\u00adli\u00ader flood from an over\u00adflow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd it was anger, it was embar\u00adrass\u00adment, it was shame, it was\u2014how did I let this hap\u00adpen? And I just hung up the phone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lewis and her hus\u00adband lived in the hotel at a cost of $1,000 per week for seven months. Friends set up a GoFundMe page to help cover costs, but Lewis said that made her feel ashamed. She then went to New Jersey while cleanup efforts were under\u00adway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) sent its Emergency Response and Spill Prevention Division, which sent \u201ca con\u00adtrac\u00adtor to pump out and san\u00adi\u00adtize her base\u00adment,\u201d said Graham Stevens, chief of the DEEP Bureau of Water Protection and Land Reuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cTypically, res\u00adi\u00addents would call their Fire Department who would assist in arrang\u00ading for, or con\u00adduct\u00ading, such work,\u201d Stevens said in an email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lewis con\u00adfirmed that DEEP staffers had drained the flood waters but said that the base\u00adment flood\u00aded again the next day. She said that the MDC told her that sewage from her house had caused the new surge, but she said this was not pos\u00adsi\u00adble. \u201cMy ques\u00adtion for them was, well, if it\u2019s my sewage, while I was in New Jersey, how in the hell did I cause three more feet of water and fecal mat\u00adter to rise up in my base\u00adment?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Initially, Lewis was told that 73,000 gal\u00adlons of sewage flood\u00aded into her home. But she says, after the lat\u00adter flood\u00ading, she believes the num\u00adber was clos\u00ader to 100,000 gal\u00adlons.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Lewis was told by the city of Hartford that the water com\u00adpa\u00adny was sup\u00adposed to turn her water off in her house. Seeing that the inci\u00addent hap\u00adpened in December, in which tem\u00adper\u00ada\u00adtures are freez\u00ading, this was an urgent mat\u00adter. However, upon return\u00ading back to her house weeks later, on or about Dec. 24, Lewis and her hus\u00adband heard a noise.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI said, \u2018Oh no, oh no, oh no.\u2019 The pipes for the bath\u00adroom are in the ceil\u00ading between the bath\u00adroom, which is upstairs, and the din\u00ading room. The din\u00ading room ceil\u00ading is on the din\u00ading room table. Water had been run\u00adning in my house for almost three weeks. The house was destroyed upstairs.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lewis\u2019s law\u00adsuit claims that the MDC did not shut off water to the house despite direc\u00adtion from city offi\u00adcials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also said that she believes her house was the only one in her neigh\u00adbor\u00adhood that did not receive a new lat\u00ader\u00adal, the waste pipe that con\u00adnects the house to the street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lewis said that a staff mem\u00adber of the MDC told Lewis a sleeve may have been put around her pipe instead. \u201cWhy would they put a sleeve around my pipe, when my pipe was the one that start\u00aded this whole thing?\u201d Lewis asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The MDC said it could not com\u00adment on these events or Lewis\u2019 story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lewis now lives in an apart\u00adment in Bloomfield. All her fur\u00adni\u00adture is sec\u00adond-hand. A mov\u00ading con\u00adtain\u00ader sits out\u00adside of Lewis\u2019s Hartford house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNaturally, that led to a lot of issues with me per\u00adson\u00adal\u00adly, with depres\u00adsion, because I had accu\u00admu\u00adlat\u00aded a life\u00adtime of things that I want\u00aded to save, and in a few sec\u00adonds, all of it was gone, destroyed.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the things destroyed was a long let\u00adter Lewis\u2019 moth\u00ader had writ\u00adten for her three daugh\u00adters before she died. Lewis had read part of the let\u00adter at the time but \u201cI just got too emo\u00adtion\u00adal so I couldn\u2019t fin\u00adish it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sharon Lewis in 2022, the year she won an award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for her work helping residents advocate for safer living conditions. Later that year, her house flooded from a sewage backup.<\/p>\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/files\/2025\/05\/Screenshot-2025-05-21-at-4.51.54\u202fPM-1024x684.png\" src=\"http:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/files\/2025\/05\/Screenshot-2025-05-21-at-4.51.54\u202fPM-1024x684.png\" alt class=\"wp-image-302\" srcset=\"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/files\/2025\/05\/Screenshot-2025-05-21-at-4.51.54\u202fPM-1024x684.png 1024w, https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/files\/2025\/05\/Screenshot-2025-05-21-at-4.51.54\u202fPM-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/files\/2025\/05\/Screenshot-2025-05-21-at-4.51.54\u202fPM-150x100.png 150w, https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/files\/2025\/05\/Screenshot-2025-05-21-at-4.51.54\u202fPM-768x513.png 768w, https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/files\/2025\/05\/Screenshot-2025-05-21-at-4.51.54\u202fPM.png 1156w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">
Sharon Lewis in 2022, the year she won an award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for her work help\u00ading res\u00adi\u00addents advo\u00adcate for safer liv\u00ading con\u00addi\u00adtions. Later that year, her house flood\u00aded from a sewage back\u00adup. Handout photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lewis has worked in envi\u00adron\u00admen\u00adtal advo\u00adca\u00adcy since way before she suf\u00adfered this flood. She is the exec\u00adu\u00adtive direc\u00adtor of the Connecticut Coalition for Economic and Environmental Justice, which lob\u00adbied against the now-closed trash incin\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtor in Hartford. She received an award for her activism from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2022. And she served on the state\u2019s Connecticut Equity and Environmental Justice Advisory Committee (CEEJAC), to which she told the story of the flood at a meet\u00ading in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stevens said her expe\u00adri\u00adence made an enor\u00admous impres\u00adsion on CEEJAC, which includes rep\u00adre\u00adsen\u00adta\u00adtives from other state agen\u00adcies and the EPA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cAfter she shared this infor\u00adma\u00adtion, I called MDC to ensure they were aware of the issue,\u201d Stevens said in an email. \u201cI also shared this infor\u00adma\u00adtion with the EPA. EPA joint\u00adly reg\u00adu\u00adlates sewer sys\u00adtems with the depart\u00adment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOver the next sev\u00ader\u00adal weeks, Sharon Lewis\u2019 expe\u00adri\u00adence result\u00aded in sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant atten\u00adtion from the depart\u00adment, EPA, and the media,\u201d Stevens recalled. \u201cWhat has result\u00aded is an unprece\u00addent\u00aded invest\u00adment in assist\u00ading the com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adty impact\u00aded by sewer back\u00adups,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This led to the pro\u00adpos\u00adal by the MDC, at the Department\u2019s direc\u00adtion, for the $170 mil\u00adlion in projects to help and pro\u00adtect the com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adty from sewer flood\u00ading and back\u00adups, includ\u00ading a grant pro\u00adgram to reim\u00adburse res\u00adi\u00addents for dam\u00adage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis new approach is pro\u00adtect\u00ading the water\u00adways and <\/em>the com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adty,\u201d Stevens said.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lewis said this atten\u00adtion by envi\u00adron\u00admen\u00adtal reg\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtors was uplift\u00ading. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was so happy,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cI mean, that was like the most pos\u00adi\u00adtive and pleas\u00adant thing that could have even hap\u00adpened when you\u2019re total\u00adly down and you have friends in the indus\u00adtry who want to do all they can to help you.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lewis is also part of the Water Justice Campaign, in which she helps peo\u00adple under\u00adstand their insur\u00adance and ensure they get prop\u00ader cov\u00ader\u00adage. People come with their poli\u00adcies and Lewis ver\u00adi\u00adfies whether they have sewage back\u00adup cov\u00ader\u00adage or not. She also helps peo\u00adple nav\u00adi\u00adgate con\u00adver\u00adsa\u00adtions with insur\u00adance com\u00adpa\u00adnies because she says it is so hard to under\u00adstand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you have inad\u00ade\u00adquate cov\u00ader\u00adage, when you have a claim, you\u2019re going to have inad\u00ade\u00adquate com\u00adpen\u00adsa\u00adtion,\u201d Lewis said.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After every\u00adthing she has been through, Lewis con\u00adtin\u00adues to be vocal about envi\u00adron\u00admen\u00adtal advo\u00adca\u00adcy. Though, it is not with\u00adout strug\u00adgle.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel help\u00adless. I feel that I can\u2019t do any\u00adthing because, some\u00adtimes, you can be the best advo\u00adcate in the world, but when things hap\u00adpen to you, you don\u2019t know what to do. I do for every\u00adbody else, but I can\u2019t do for myself. I can\u2019t explain why I can\u2019t, but I\u2019m help\u00adless and pret\u00adty much par\u00ada\u00adlyzed,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve been see\u00ading doc\u00adtors for this and try\u00ading to get some help on why I just can\u2019t get it togeth\u00ader, but I\u2019m total\u00adly destroyed by this. Totally destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lewis will con\u00adtin\u00adue speak\u00ading up for this prob\u00adlem despite all the hard\u00adship it has cost her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI knew exact\u00adly what I\u2019d be doing in my retire\u00adment,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

TOP IMAGE: The water level in Sharon Lewis\u2019 base\u00adment as shown through the home\u2019s hatch\u00adway in Hartford, Connecticut, Dec. 5, 2022. Photo cour\u00adtesy of Sharon Lewis<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Julianna D\u2019AddonaUConn Journalism On Dec. 4, 2022, flood\u00ading from a com\u00adbined sewage over\u00adflow destroyed prop\u00ader\u00adty, keep\u00adsakes, and appli\u00adances in the house of Hartford res\u00adi\u00addent Sharon Lewis. The after\u00admath of the flood also destroyed her con\u00adfi\u00addence in her insur\u00adance cov\u00ader\u00adage. Lewis had lived in the house at 32\u201334 Rutland Street most of her life and\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1075,"featured_media":223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[18],"class_list":["post-300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories-from-the-north-end","tag-north-end"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/files\/2025\/05\/Sharon-Lewis-Basement-Hatchway--scaled-e1749827005996.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1075"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1110,"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300\/revisions\/1110"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}