CTofficialstouted flood control funding, then Hartford got hit by flooding once again.

Jul. 6—"She's asking me, 'Is your basement flooding?' and I said 'It is not. I just went down there and it's dry. Let me go check,'" Lyons said. "And then when I looked, I walked down there, and there it was. I don't know how to really explain it but just know that is not a good feeling."

Lyons' basement has been flooding for years and the latest round of flooding came just days after the city of Hartford and the state delegation announced funding to address the issue.

The state budget passed in June includes $175 million in funding for infrastructure improvements to the outdated sewer and water system, $5 million of which will go toward a fund for home and business owners impacted by the flooding. Work on those projects, however, is a long way off from being completed.

"It turns into a health issue because you don't clean out your basement, it gets wet, it gets moldy, and then mold starts to grow," Lyons said. "And then there's another issue. So we're dealing with environmental injustice, but we just need help. We needed help, like, yesterday."

Since water floods her basement multiple times in rainier seasons, Lyons has begun to plan her life around the inevitability of the water, keeping her items on higher shelves and debating whether to clean up the moisture if it will only sneak back in days later.

"My sump pump cannot deal with the amount that's coming in," Lyons said. "I'm back to square one again. It's like playing Chutes and Ladders. You get all the way up there and then bam and you're back at square one again. We shouldn't have to live like this. No other community is living like this."

Hartford receives sewer and water services through the Metropolitan District Commission of Connecticut and operates with a combined system. This means both sewage and storm water travel in the same pipe.

Lyons also serves as the president of The Upper Albany Merchants Association, which represents small business owners in the neighborhood. She said many small business owners she works with have been affected. She said one restaurant owner has not been able to open for two years because of damage.

Advocates, including Lyons, met with state Comptroller Sean Scanlon Wednesday morning. Scanlon will be part of the team administering the eventual funding to the residents who desperately need it.

Scanlon toured the flooding damage and met with residents in the basement of a church that was previously flooded with sewage.

"These people need help now," Scanlon said in an interview with CT Insider. "And I get that their homes are flooded right now. Their businesses experienced damage right now. I'm not going to be able to help them this week. I'm not gonna be able to help them next week. But I want them to know that I'm working as fast as I can, as hard as I can to get them to help as soon as we can."

While Scanlon is not involved in rolling out the structural improvements to the MDC system, he will be overseeing the process of residents applying for funding to compensate damage on their property individually. The process is in limbo as the governor and state legislature work to choose an administrator for the program.

Until then, Scanlon encouraged residents to save receipts.

"Documenting things and having evidence of things and saving receipts and all those things are really important," Scanlon said. "So my message to the people of Hartford today is if you had damage to your house or your business or your apartment, take pictures, take videos, save receipts, save whatever you can."

The funding will be available to compensate flood damage on or after Jan. 1, 2021.

The flooding affects different residents in different ways. In Clay Arsenal Tuesday, Joanna Iovino looked out her window to see people pushing a car up the flooded road.

"I saw them pushing the car up, and it looked like it was floating up the street instead of driving up the street because it was like literally up to the top of the wheels, the water," Iovino said.

Iovino rents her home in Hartford and has been watching the floods through her window for years. She said every time it rains, even if it isn't heavy like Tuesday's soaking downpour, there are at least massive puddles in the roads, if not more flooding.

As someone who does not use a car, she relies on the streets being passable in order to walk to the bus stop.

"Every time it rains, there's big puddles in front of the bus stop, and I have to stand at the bus stop and stand back because I have to worry about cars coming by and going through the puddles and splashing me and all that stuff," Iovino said.

Tuesday she couldn't have made it to the bus stop if she tried. But, to her disgust, others were attempting to sludge through it.

"I can't even imagine what's actually in that water," Iovino said. "I saw people having to literally walk through it and they had shorts on in the filthy water. And it was a child and it just bugged me out because it's so unhealthy."

Iovino is fearful the funding offered by the state will prioritize neighborhoods with higher rate of homeownership than her own, where many residents rent.

"They need to make sure that they do it to the appropriate places, not just people who make the most noise or have the most influence," Iovino said.