Popular Oxford business faces setbacks as owners work to reopen after flooding

It’s been nearly 10 months since devastating rain swept through the Naugatuck Valley, swelling rivers and destroying homes and businesses in the area.

If you drive Route 67, you’ll find a lot of recovery, bridges and businesses rebuilt.

But one local business is still shuttered, and consistent rainfall continues to hold them back.

“Came here the next morning and it was like a gut punch to the stomach… sickening,” Joslynn Turcott with the Olde Sawmill mini golf course said, as she thought back to the day after the flooding.

The course is typically a bustling summer destination for residents, but it remains shuttered as they rebuild.

“It’s such a financial cost, but knowing people want us open, it makes it a little bit easier,” Turcott said.

They have vowed to reopen, and it has taken the family and beyond to make progress.

“Our family is doing everything we can,” Turcott’s sister Doreen Larock said.

They have invested thousands of dollars in rock for the riverbanks and millings to secure the parking lot. But continued rain has left the little river swollen, stealing rocks along the bank and washing away those millings for the parking.

It’s thousands of dollars vulnerable to being washed away.

“Every time it rains like this, the water rises, it just keeps washing away more and more of the little bit of progress we did make,” Larock said.

They are determined to reopen and have been getting a lot of help from neighbors.

“We want them open, that is the goal, we want them here, we want them open, we want them busy,” Shannon Neumann said.

Her and her husband from Neumann Electric, another local business in town, have been helping in the recovery process anyway they can.

She was also behind the initial “Oxford Strong” t-shirts meant to fundraise for local businesses. She is considering another round specifically to help the mini golf course.

Her husband is also set to do the electrical when the business is ready so they can begin operations again.

When you add in other contractors and volunteers helping out, they maintain they aren’t giving up on the local spot.

Neumann’s message to the rest of Connecticut, continue to support the community, too, and don’t forget about the towns still recovering from the flooding, even as time passes.

“There still is a huge need and that’s what a lot of people don’t understand,” Neumann said.

Rain is still tough for the entire community, according to the first selectman. Something they never really paid much mind to, has now left an open wound in the community.

But he assures residents, the town is always ready to respond in an emergency like this one.

“It is built better, but there are no guarantees it wont happen again, believe me,” First Selectman George Temple said.

He notes the bridges and culverts were built back bigger following the flooding to handle more water. Space has also been carved out along the banks of the little river where it could be, to allow for river swelling.

The river itself carved out a new path, and he said it continues to settle into its new spot.

But while the businesses and homes might be built back physically, there is still a long way to go.

“There are people that have recovered in terms of making repairs, but they wound up with debt, too, and we have to recover from that,” Temple said.

Places like the Olde Sawmill are just ready to welcome the community back, and hope they are ready to support, and play some mini golf.

“We want to open so badly this summer, that is our goal, and we can’t wait to see everyone again,” Larock said.

The town also notes they are continuing to fundraise for a memorial to the two women that died in the flooding, close to the pond between the town hall and fire station.