First Selectman Dan Rosenthal believes any preparations Newtown and other neighboring communities made to ensure all residents were safe after Tropical Storm Isaias slammed the region last August were closely tied to the regional energy utility Eversource being strategically prepared to help open critical roadways for emergency access and address restoring outages.

But Rosenthal and colleague first selectmen Rudy Marconi of Ridgefield, Matt Knickerbocker of Bethel, and New Fairfield’s Patricia Del Monaco do not believe the utility was prepared for the intensity of the storm, leaving their communities vulnerable for days — and they are asking Connecticut’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) to determine accountability for the situation.

The four officials came together this week as PURA’s Chair Marissa Paslick Gillett opened a hearing on Eversource’s response to those communities.

In a pre-filed testimony, the officials state, “It is our hope that our participation in this investigation will assist in developing a more effective disaster planning and response strategy, and will contribute to PURA holding Eversource accountable for its failures in our Towns and throughout the State of Connecticut.”

Because of the potential outcome of the hearing, Rosenthal told The Newtown Bee that the town leaders were questioned by PURA officials as well as its counsel, a representative from the Office of Consumer Counsel (OCC), the Attorney General’s Office, the DEEP, and representative counsel from Eversource.

Under questioning about the worst situations faced in Newtown, Rosenthal related how firefighters had to use ATVs to respond when access was blocked to a local rehabilitation facility more than a day after the storm subsided, and sadly, how energized wires thought to be dormant electrocuted a family dog.

“Eversource said it was unreasonable for a storm the scope of Isaias to have Make Safe crews in every town,” Rosenthal said. “Our response was, ‘What is reasonable?’ They didn’t say, but waiting days for one is not reasonable.”

When asked whether Eversource’s response was markedly different than to previous storms, Rosenthal said the selectmen “rattled off a litany of differences between Isaias and other relatively recent storms.”

He said as a response, Eversource’s counsel appeared to suggest the selectmen had insufficient knowledge about the operations and intricacies of electrical grid operations, so their response expectations were inappropriate.

“They even took issue with our spreadsheets, which is the way Newtown reports closed roads and outages,” he said. “So I was glad to hear the first question asked by PURA in response was whether Eversource ever had issues with our spreadsheets before.”

‘Seeking Accountability’

When Chairman Gillett reminded the officials that PURA could not help the town recover damages, Rosenthal said he and his colleagues replied, “We are not here to seek recovery, we’re seeking accountability.”

By participating in the proceedings as a group, Rosenthal said the aim was not only to pool resources toward legal fees, but also to provide a united front to PURA and the other agencies involved, with each selectman speaking about common issues they experienced post-Isaias.

“I think it made our case better, and it put a finer point on the relief we are seeking,” Rosenthal said. “And it’s important for the public to know we are following through on this.”

In late September, PURA had previously ruled on an appeal for immediate relief and sided on behalf of the towns involved. The authority had directed both Eversource and the state’s other electrical utility, United Illuminating, to take immediate steps to address three major concerns articulated by the towns.

Ahead of that ruling, Rosenthal suspected testimony offered directly by those who lost thousands of dollars in spoiled food and medications, and who went without electricity for more than a week after Isaias, helped fortify a legal brief that called on PURA to demand Eversource make changes to a response protocol that he said failed on three fronts.

To summarize the ruling:

*PURA directed both Eversource and UI to deploy Make Safe crews in accordance with the Annex protocol that were identified in the motion.

*PURA directed the electric distribution companies (EDCs) involved to implement their outage reporting systems as intended in their Emergency Response Plans.

*PURA directed the EDCs to implement their community liaison programs in accordance with their Emergency Response Plans.

In addition, PURA directed the EDCs to have their designated town liaison communicate with every town emergency response manager prior to any storm. And as the communities requested, PURA directed the EDCs to hold a meeting with each town, the EDC liaison, and at least one member of its operations personnel “no later than October 16.”

Latest PURA Testimony

In the current testimony to PURA, the four selectmen asserted in their response, “Each of our Towns were devastated by Isaias and Eversource’s inadequate response to the storm.

“Each Town suffered power outages that extended for over a week, thousands of residents impacted, roads that remained impassable for far too long, failures by Eversource in addressing emergency situations, delayed restoration work by Eversource, and a complete lack of communication and coordination from Eversource,” they added. “Nearly every resident and business in each Town was impacted.”

Knickerbocker’s testimony stated, “From August 4 through August 13, 2020, approximately 65 percent of Eversource customers (over 5,800) in our Town lost power;” and “road clearing work did not begin until Friday, August 7, [creating] a dangerous situation where access in and around the Town was severely limited for an extended period...”

Del Monaco said New Fairfield experienced outages from August 4 through August 12, affecting at peak 70 percent of the Eversource customers, or approximately 4,300 local customers.

“For many days, 22 roads that were one-way streets were blocked, and an additional 10 roads with alternate means of egress were blocked,” Del Monaco testified. “As a result, 380 homes were cut off from emergency responders during most of the week following the storm...”

Similarly, Marconi stated Ridgefield saw as many as 84 percent of Eversource customers — over 9,000 — affected, while in Newtown, as much as 90 percent of its Eversource customers — more than 9,000 — were also cut off from power.

Rosenthal said at peak, more than 100 roads were closed.

“The roads were not cleared fully until August 13 — nine days after the storm,” he stated, “with some roads remaining completely closed during that time.”

In terms of restoration, the selectmen related, “Each of our Towns faced unacceptable delays in Eversource’s restoration work. Power line wires and trees remained down for days on end, and we each endured multiple days of blocked roads and power outages.

“In each of our Towns, Eversource failed to deploy Make Safe crews in a timely fashion — in some instances, not at all — and power was not restored to critical facilities in an acceptable manner,” the testimony states.

“Eversource also failed to prioritize public safety,” the selectmen said. “In certain instances, restoration work began on lower priority situations while roads remained closed elsewhere to emergency vehicles, and residents remained trapped in their homes.”

Look for additional reporting in The Newtown Bee and at newtownbee.com as PURA and other state agencies conclude this phase of investigation into storm Isaias response and restoration.