Newcomers to Hartford often wonder why the Connecticut River is so sealed off from the city.   Others who see old pictures like this postcard are  curious about a river running through downtown they can’t find today.

This Sunday on Face the State, we will talk about a cataclysmic event that took place eighty years ago this week, and lead to drastic changes in Hartford, that we still live with today.

Devastating flooding occured throughout the northeast in March of 1936, and Connecticut was pummeled by rising rivers that overflowed their banks.   Major streets in downtown Hartford were turned into rivers themselves, wiping out homes, and causing millions of dollars in damages.

On Sunday we are joined by the chief curator of the Connecticut Historical Society Ilene Frank, and the president of Riverfront Recapture, Mike Zaleski.  The two will talk about what life was like during this epic natural disaster, and the changes the city, state and Roosevelt administration made to Hartford that transformed the city forever.

Frank shares with us several photographs that show the destruction and give us a sense of the human toll.