Autumnal Storm Brings High Winds, Heavy Rains

By Andrew Gorosko

A fast-moving autumnal storm with high winds and driving rains moved through the area last weekend, causing approximately 900 Connecticut Light & Power Company (CL&P) customers in Newtown to be without electric service at the local height of outages at about 2:30 am Sunday, October 26.

There are about 11,000 CL&P customers in town.

CL&P spokesman Mitch Gross said this week that at the height of outages statewide, at about 11 pm Saturday, October 25, approximately 50,000 CL&P customers in Connecticut were without electricity.

Generally, the 45- to 50-mile-per-hour winds that came with the storm brought down trees and limbs, damaging the electric lines that are hung from utility poles, resulting in the outages.

In Newtown, the electric outages started about 3:30 pm on October 25, when approximately 150 CL&P customers were without electricity, Mr Gross said.

After hitting a peak of 900 outages at about 2:30 am on October 26, the number of those affected declined to 260 customers at 3 pm October 26, dropped to 100 customers at 10:30 pm on October 26, and then declined to 12 outages at 3:30 am on Monday, October 27, Mr Gross said.

CL&P repair crews worked to restore power to affected customers after receiving reports of power failures. The outages were scattered, with small groups of customers losing their electric service at various locations, he said.

CL&P brought in electric repair crews from other regions to help it restore service, Mr Gross said.

During a 14-hour period starting at about 6 pm October 25, the town’s five volunteer fire companies responded to a total of 13-storm related calls. There were no reported injuries in the incidents.

The calls for help came from Obtuse Road, Huntingtown Road, Taunton Hill Road, Main Street, Scudder Road, Sherman Street, Totem Trail, Brushy Hill Road, Megans Circle, Cedar Hill Road, Turkey Roost Road, Currituck Road, and Boggs Hill Road.

The calls generally involved fallen trees bringing down electric lines, sometimes across roadways, and sometimes blocking traffic.

Main Street Blocked

At about 8:05 pm October 25, a large section of a tree fell down, bringing down energized power lines with it onto Main Street, near a home at 59 Main Street, said Hook & Ladder Fire Chief Dave Ober.

The fallen tree section, which was about one foot in diameter, blocked traffic flow in both directions on Main Street there for more than two hours, he said. Police diverted motorists to nearby streets on detours to avoid the section of Main Street lying between Edmond Town Hall and Hanover Road.

CL&P crews came to the area to resolve the problem.

As Hook & Ladder firefighters encountered fallen trees in responding to calls, they blocked off roads to traffic, as necessary, until repairs could be made, according to Chief Ober.

Chief Ober noted that the many leaves which remained on trees during the storm caught the strong winds, putting extra wind stresses on the trees’ limbs.

The high winds in the storm damaged the large flag flying on the Main Street flagpole. Hook & Ladder firefighters replaced the large flag with a smaller flag on Monday, October 27. Such small flags typically are flown on the pole during colder weather.

Botsford Fire Chief Wayne Ciaccia said Botsford firefighters responded to a call about 6:22 pm October 25, in the area near the Congregation Adath Israel synagogue on Huntingtown Road, where a large evergreen tree had fallen across the road, blocking traffic in both directions.

Traffic in the area was detoured around the Huntingtown Road blockage until repairs could be made, he said.

Sandy Hook Fire Chief Bill Halstead said Sandy Hook firefighters responded to storm-related calls on Sherman Street, where a fallen tree had landed on some utility lines, and on Totem Trail, where a fallen tree brought down utility lines.