With plenty of warning and time to prepare, Newtown residents were not surprised when the skies darkened and the rain began last Sunday morning.

The arrival of Tropical Storm Henri had been forecast for days.

Fortunately for this part of the state, the August 21-22 weather system was a blip, especially compared to tropical storms of recent years. Henri in Newtown was nothing like Isaias last summer, nor any of the snowstorms of recent winters that left some customers in town without power for over a week.

As it barreled toward Long Island and New Haven just beyond, Henri swerved and headed toward the eastern part of Connecticut’s coastline before moving north. The storm’s path was not obvious, however, until late Saturday and early Sunday, prompting the temporary removal of the Main Street flag, already lowered following the death of a Burlington firefighter the previous week.

My Place Restaurant pulled the shell off its large dining tent and the secured tables and chairs usually found under the tent and in front of the Queen Street eatery.

The town was under a National Weather Service Tropical Storm Warning until early Sunday, but by daybreak only a light rain was falling. Some trees fell, but few needed more than one Public Works employee toting a chain saw to make quick work of any minor road blocks.

Public Works employees were fully prepared for the storm. Among their tasks over the weekend, employees put sandbags in front of the doors and around the generators outside the Wasserman Way pumphouse.

Three Public Works employees were also staged with loaders at three of the town’s firehouses, in the event the large equipment was needed to clear trees. Two additional loaders, one reportedly contracted from LRM, Inc, and another from Nagy Bros, were staged at two other fire stations for the same reason.

At least one potentially serious crash was recorded early Sunday afternoon. Sandy Hook firefighters and Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps personnel responded to the Exit 11 on-ramp after a 24-year-old male operating a 1999 Ford Explorer rolled that vehicle onto its driver’s side.

According to the CT State Police report, Isaiah M. Galarza-Barlow was traveling too fast for conditions on the interstate entrance ramp around 12:33 pm. Galarza-Barlow lost control of the vehicle while navigating a left turn. The vehicle ended up perpendicular to the guardrail of the bridge over Berkshire Road.

Galarza-Barlow received multiple summonses, including traveling unreasonably fast for conditions in a construction zone; see this week’s Police Reports for additional information.

Some residents within the Pootatuck Park area of town lost power for a few hours Sunday. George Lowell told The Newtown Bee on Monday that two trees fell just across the road from his house, taking the primary line with them.

“We were without power for about 3½ hours,” he said.

Tuesday morning, Eversource spokesperson Mitch Gross said any Henri-related outages had been fully restored.

At least one gas station ran out of fuel on Sunday. After very steady lines of cars filling their tanks, as well as many people stopping to fill backup containers with gas, the full-service Citgo/Wheels at 47 Church Hill Road had closed by 1:30 Sunday afternoon.

East of that station, the Wheels convenience store and gas station at 67 Church Hill Road was down to premium level gas only by mid-Sunday afternoon.

Rain was heavier on Monday, actually, as the tail end of Henri left the region, but again, flooding was very localized.

The Main Street flag was returned to its post, and Tuesday morning, the sun — and the humidity — had returned.

=====

Associate Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.