In one of about 19 reports to police of motor vehicle accidents in Norwalk on snowy Tuesday, a station wagon slid down a hill, knocked out a fire hydrant and hit a house, police said.
Not an hour before, an SUV slid on the same stretch of road and flipped over onto its side.
Reports of vehicles getting into accidents Tuesday came in from all over Norwalk, according to a rough count by a Police Department spokeswoman: There were five by 12:30 p.m., nine by 3 p.m. and the number rose to 16 by 6:30 p.m. By 8:40 p.m. there were about 19.
(Some of the reports may have been mistaken, but there wasn't time for the spokeswoman to check them all out on Wednesday morning.)
Norwalk police gave this account of each incident at the intersection of Bouton Street and the bottom of Cliff Avenue in South Norwalk:
In the first accident, reported at 3:22 p.m., a 2009 Toyota 4Runner driving downhill toward Bouton Street began spinning out of control. It struck a curb and rolled over onto its passenger side.
By the time police arrived at the scene, the driver had climbed out of the SUV, which was still operable, although it had damage to its entire passenger side. A tow truck pulled the SUV upright. The driver was issued a verbal warning.
The second accident happened shortly before 5:14 p.m.
The driver, who was unhurt, told police he lost control of his 2006 Ford station wagon as he drove downhill on Cliff Street. A witness told police that the car didn't seem to be traveling very fast on the icy, snowy road.
The station wagon hit a fire hydrant, knocking it loose, then a house. The station wagon's air bag deployed, but the driver said he didn't come into contact with it. A witness told police the driver didn't appear to be traveling fast.
The house sustained considerable damage, both inside and out, according to police, but a Norwalk building inspector examined it and found it in no danger of collapsing.
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