Residents Can't Return Home After February Blizzard

Just days after the blizzard walloped the state with feet of snow, Krista Hanniford noticed something unusual at her Branford Hills condo.

“I woke up one morning and I noticed some real large cracks by the window,” said Hanniford.

When the Branford Fire and Building Departments were called in, they found out it was a lot more than few cracks.

“They had discovered that the walls were cracking, and the windows don't open properly.  So we went up there to see if there was any more damage and to see if we could mitigate it, which unfortunately, we really weren't able to do,” said Branford Fire Chief Jack Ahern.

Chief Ahern says the roof of the building just couldn't hold such a large amount of snow, and it started to collapse.  That made it no longer safe for any of the people living in the six units in building 133.

“They said you need to leave.  Grab your important stuff and leave,” said Hanniford.

Hanniford says it's tough not being able to go back home.  She's been out of her place for more than a month now.

“It's been you know, a struggle,” she said.

She says she's fortunate, though, because her parents and people at the Branford Compassion Club where she volunteers have all stepped up to help. 

The company that handles Branford Hills, Prime Property Management of Hamden, didn't return our call for comment, but has been in touch with the Branford Building Department and condo owners about repairs.

“The property management sent a letter out saying they're doing a walk about sometime tomorrow and taking bids,” said Hanniford.

She says she hopes the process moves along, so that she can get back into her home soon. 


The inside of My Sister's Place in Ansonia doesn't look like it normally does.  Instead of clothing hanging on the racks, it's being taken off the racks and bagged up to be shipped out.

“Everything that's on our selling floor will be taken and either bulk dry cleaned or bulk cleaned,” said Nancy Cahoon, manager of My Sister’s Place.

It needs to be cleaned because of a fire in the neighboring Asylum Nightclub early Monday morning.  The flames didn't extend to the thrift shop, but the fire did do enough damage to close the store.

“We had a very bad smoke smell.  Thank goodness there was no water damage, no soot on the walls, but everything had a very heavy smell of smoke,” said Cahoon.

So now the entire store needs to be cleaned from top to bottom.  While that happens, My Sister's Place will remain closed. 

However, it still wants people to drop off any gently-used merchandise, because without donations and then merchandise sales, the non-profit store won't be raising money for the Center for Domestic Violence Services.

“This is our busiest time going into spring time.  Everybody's spring cleaning and they're ready to drop of donations,” said Cahoon.

Starting Thursday, the store will be taking donations again.  What will happen is the managers are asking people to drop off the donations here, and they'll move them to another location until the store is ready to reopen.

So far, a soft reopening is set for Friday, March 29th and a grand reopening is set for Saturday, April 6th.