By Thane Grauel

WESTPORT — People flocked to the town’s transfer station to shovel sand into bags Saturday, hoping to hold back predicted floodwaters from Hurricane Henri, as the powerful storm churned toward town.

“It doesn’t seem to be getting any better,” John O’Herron Jr. of Hillspoint Road said of the storm predictions.

 As of Saturday evening, the National Weather Service was predicting the storm would come ashore overnight with tropical storm-driven gusty winds, heavy rain and likely shoreline flooding. However, if Henri shifts to the west, southwestern Connecticut could be slammed by more severe hurricane conditions, forecasters warned.

Sandbags distributed for flood barriers

O’Herron’s house is across from the Sherwood Mill Pond, and he wanted the sandbags to keep water out of his garage.

Nicole and Jeff Goldstein, who live near a marshy area and creek off Whitney Street, came to fill sandbags as well. Their 3-year-daughter, Lyla, sat on a sandbag. 

“Can I help?” she asked, before taking double-handfuls of sand and dropping them into a bag her mom held open.

“We live near some wetlands, which has a small creek that becomes a bigger creek,” said Jeff Goldstein. 

Many in low-lying areas of town were wary of potential flooding. But up the connector at Sherwood Island State Park, there were plenty of people on the beach and picnicking as usual on the sunny afternoon.

A run on gas stations, food stores

The Citgo gas station on Post Road East, near the Sherwood Island Connector, had a waiting line of cars stretching out to the road Saturday afternoon. So did the Cumberland Farms at the corner of Hillspoint Road. 

Food stores, including Super Stop & Shop, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, appeared busier than usual, as people stocked up on essentials in case Henri delivered a long-term knockout to power and access to retail outlets.

At Stop & Shop, John Kluchnick said he hopes he won’t lose electric power, and he’s a little worried about his neighbor’s tree that could fall on his house. But the main preparation he plans to take as the storm makes landfall is praying. “It’s in God’s hands,” he said.

Shavon Taylor, a manager at Stop & Shop, said that customers were stocking up on storm provisions, but also noted the store is always busy Saturday mornings, she said. She’s lived through lots of hurricanes, she said, and was not worried at all.

“If it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen,” she added.

Paul Raymond was sitting outside Stop & Shop collecting money for Focus on Vets, Inc., a group for disabled vets. Sitting in a wheelchair, he also said that he was not overly concerned about Henri.

“I made sure everything was ready to go,” he said, bringing inside anything loose in his yard such as his lawnmower and some scooters, as well making sure his dogs stay inside. “It’s just common sense,” he said.

Beach sand off limits for bag fillers

In the Compo neighborhood, sandbag barriers were erected around some homes.

Jim Hood of Soundview Avenue was worried about the approaching hurricane, remembering that his home’s entry level had been inundated by seven feet of water after Superstorm Sandy and three feet at Tropical Storm Irene.

“We had to rebuild,” he said. “This house can’t be raised.”

Hood was also irked. He and some neighbors were told by a lifeguard they couldn’t use sand from the beach, just across the street, to fill sandbags.

“Hundreds of thousands of tons of sand will be moved around by this storm, and someone saying you can’t take 20 bags of sand,” he said. “It’s asinine.”

He said he and neighbors fired off emails to complain to Representative Town Meeting members. “People are trying to protect their property and their lives,” he said.

‘Everything’ flying off hardware shelves

At Westport Hardware on Post Road East, the last hardware store in town, business was brisk.

Asked what people were buying, sales associate David Bell said, “Everything.”

“Anything to do with flashlights, sandbags, ice packs, coolers, tarps, ropes,” he said.

Merchandise the store ran out of would be restocked Tuesday, he said.

“We just hope everyone stays safe,” Bell said.

Lida Ghiorzi, the owner of the Silver Ribbon jewelry shop on Post Road East, said she was keeping a wary eye on the weather to assess what was needed to protect her store. 

However, she said her shops have not suffered any damage during the 40-plus years she’s been in Westport. Major precautions such as boarding up or taping store windows are the responsibility of the landlord, she added.

Downtown merchants wary of river flooding

Simona Silvestri, owner of the recently opened La Fenice Gelato on Main Street, had bags of sand piled at the Parker Harding Plaza entrance to the shop.

She said some workers at a nearby store advised her to get the bags. “They said you have to try to save the store,” she said. 

The plaza, and even Main Street, has flooded during previous storms when the Saugatuck River flexes its muscles and spills over its banks.

Additional reporting by Gretchen Webster.