Chorus Of Complaints Grows Amid CL&P’s Incremental Progress

By John Voket

Shortly after more than 100 support vehicles — bucket trucks, flatbeds loaded with generators, even huge commercial military dump trucks — were seen streaming into Connecticut on Interstate 84, Newtown officials joined a chorus of community leaders hammering Connecticut Light & Power (CL&P) and state officials about intolerable response times and issuing grossly misleading misinformation.

Around 4:30 pm Tuesday, November 1, First Selectman Pat Llodra, State Representative Chris Lyddy and a representative from Congressman Chris Murphy’s office huddled around a telephone handset in Newtown’s Emergency Operations Center listening in as town leader after town leader complained about crews, or just a single crew, promised and either not delivered or delivered just to be whisked away to handle a regional emergency a short time after crews arrived.

From Simsbury and Thomaston to New Milford, mayors and first selectmen were stressing about myriad roadways still impassable to fire apparatus or ambulances, as well as the many residents stuck behind tangles of downed trees and hazardous wires.

At one point during the tirade, Congressman Murphy broke in to the conversation, telling CL&P officials on the conference call, “I don’t think they are all getting the right information” about crews promised to towns as early as a pre-storm briefing last Thursday.

Mrs Llodra jumped in to the dialogue after one utility official said he would ensure a one-crew for every town minimum response would be in effect by Wednesday morning, reminding the officials on the line that Newtown has more than 460 miles of roads, which would require a proportionately greater response than a neighboring community with less than 100 miles of roads.

Roxbury First Selectman Barbara Henry railed against the state Department of Transportation as well, saying her town crews and paid contractors were clearing all town roads including miles of state roads.

“We never saw one DOT truck the whole time,” she said. “The natives are getting restless.”

As local officials convened for the town’s 5 pm emergency operations meeting, Police Chief Michael Kehoe announced that the Police Headquarters at Main and Sugar Streets had just restored power.

He also said that Shelton Police Chief Joel Hurliman called and was sending up a supply of surplus drinking water from his department for distribution to Newtowners.

Public Works Director Fred Hurley said five major access roads were cleared for vehicular traffic since the 9 am briefing earlier Tuesday. Those areas included Poverty Hollow, Hattertown Road, and the Key Rock Road area.

He said full road closures were down to 20, about half of what was reported at 9 am.

Health District Director Donna Culbert sent a memo stating that she was expecting a boil water advisory to be issued for the Meadowbrook and Newtown Village trailer parks because their water pumps went for an extended time without power. She had earlier told The Bee the move was precautionary, but standard protocol when pumps went down.

Rep Lyddy said that Secretary of the State Denise Merrill was evaluating the situation statewide, and was expected to teleconference with local registrars Wednesday about concerns related to conducting local elections Tuesday, November 8. By Tuesday afternoon word from Ms Merrill’s office that Governor Dannel Malloy, through an Executive Order, has extended the voter registration deadline for the upcoming municipal elections across the state to Monday, November 7, at noon.

Newtown Registrars Karen Aurelia and LeReine Frampton both told The Bee Tuesday afternoon that they planned to move forward with local balloting at all four Newtown voting precincts.

Safe Shelter

Residents are reminded that an American Red Cross supervised shelter is open and available at Newtown Middle School on Queen Street, but anyone wanting to stay overnight may want to bring their own blanket and pillow. Once all the available blankets were used they would be washed and recycled to other incoming individuals, but those who bring their own linens would relieve stress on the system.

Mrs Llodra stressed to Jacqui Borges-King, Newtown’s assigned CL&P liaison, that it was critical for residents who were able to get out and about to see crews at work. She said she took numerous calls from residents saying they have not seen a single crew since the storm ended Sunday.

“People think nobody is working in town,” Mrs Llodra said. “Since yesterday we had 267 homes restored, but that is out of 10,000 who were out. We still have a long way to go.”

Check Home Power Lines

On another subject, Ms Borges-King reasserted that residents should ensure electrical equipment attached to their homes is in working order, so when crews arrive on their street, disconnected wires can be quickly reattached and power can be restored.

She suggested that if home owners suspect electrical hardware is compromised they should consult a local electrician to repair equipment before utility crews can restore power from the pole.

A partial listing of local contractors is below. Other electricians operating in Newtown who want to be included on the list are invited to post their availability on the Newtown Bee’s Facebook site or tweet #thenewtownbee on Twitter.

Partial List of Local Electricians

Bob’s Electric, 203-743-1123

Cedar Hill Electric, 203-426-5313

Current Connections Electrical Contractors Incorporated, 203-426-5575

Central Electric LLC, 203-426-6551

Family Electric Inc, 203-270-8091

Holzner Electric Co., 203-426-2249

Kesco Electric & Home Improvement, 203-426-0317

Ken Burns Electrical Contractors, 203-426-4269

Markut Electric, 203-426-5743

Nagel Electric, 203-426-0169

Newtown Electric, 203-426-1456