Numbers Grow At Groton Shelter As Residents Seek Refuge From Hurricane

At first, Priscilla Harris-Smith thought she’d ride out the storm.

Then she saw her neighbors packing their cars: Pillows, blankets, coolers, clothes. And she got nervous.

By Monday morning, the block on Miami Court was empty.  

“Basically everyone was gone,” said Harris-Smith, who doesn’t have a car. She called for help.

Emergency workers picked up her, and brought her, her husband, their two children, their two foster children and her nephew to the Red Cross Shelter at Fitch High School.

Eighty-one people spent the night at the shelter Sunday, and by Monday at 3:30 p.m. 193 had arrived, with more coming. The shelter also had 20 dogs, five cats and a rabbit.

Julie Gagne, shelter manager for the Red Cross, said the shelter was serving people from across Groton, including families. School cafeteria workers were supplying food for meals and cooking. The Red Cross was also bringing in food, she said.

Gretchen Korpi, 79, was among those at the shelter. She remembers the hurricanes of 1938 and 1954. She was in Groton for both.

“I remember my father and mother tried to hold onto the door to keep the water from coming in but it wouldn’t work,” she said of the storm of 1938. She added, “We saw several houses disappear.”

Her brick house on Essex Street ultimately made it, and the neighbors ended up staying there.

“There was a water mark on the first floor about five feet up, and it stayed there 20 years,” she said.

Her uncle’s boat sank in the Hurricane of 1954, she said.

When she heard about Hurricane Sandy approaching, she said, “I said we should go.”

Her daughter, Katie Korpi and Korpi’s husband Duncan Denny, brought Grethcen Korpi, their two children, ages 2 and 4, and two dogs, a Golden Retriever and Labradoodle.

They packed two cars with blankets, snacks, clothes, pillows and comfort items for the kids.

“We grew up hearing stories about the storm surge and how it left a mark on the dining room wall,” Katie Korpi said. “Once you go through that, you don’t see the humor in it anymore. We were just taught to take it seriously.”

The children have handled the stay well, although Maxson, 4, asked to go home some, and they had trouble getting to bed Sunday night.

“It was a nightmare getting them to sleep,” Duncan said. “They were up until 11.”

The family planned to stay through Monday night. At first, Korpi said she thought they’d wait out the storm. Then her husband talked to her, and she thought better of it.

“I just go back to the phrase, ‘There’s nothing more expensive than regret,’” she said.