Severe Thunderstorm Causes Extensive Damage, Power Outages

By Andrew Gorosko

Local officials described the severe thunderstorm that hit town late on the afternoon of Thursday, June 9, as the most damaging warm-weather storm to strike Newtown since a tornado that occurred in May 2007.

There were no reports of injuries due to the severe storm.

As of 10 am on June 10, at the height of the outages in Newtown, 1,369 Connecticut Light & Power (CL&P) customers were without electricity, representing about 12.6 percent, or one-eighth, of the company’s 10,870 local customers, according to CL&P.

Statewide, CL&P restored power to approximately 215,000 of its 1.2 million customers, said CL&P spokesman Mitch Gross.

CL&P completed power restoration in Newtown by the early morning hours of June 13, Mr Gross said.

The “very severe thunderstorms” resulted in many broken utility poles and downed electrical lines across the state, he said. The intense weather brought high winds, vivid lightning, and heavy rains to the area.

To deal with the extensive damage caused by the storms, CL&P dispatched more than 500 repair crews across the state to fix storm-related problems, Mr Gross said. Utility workers traveled to Connecticut from Michigan and Ohio to help with the repairs.

The problems caused by the storm involved fallen trees and fallen tree sections bringing down electric lines onto roadways as they fell, cutting off electric service, Mr Gross said.

In this area, especially hard hit towns included Brookfield, Ridgefield, Roxbury, and Woodbury, he said. Newtown experienced moderate electrical network damage compared to other towns across the state, he said.

Due to street blockages caused by trees that had fallen across local roads, school classes were canceled for June 10.

The town activated its Code Red automated telephone call emergency notification system on the afternoon of June 10, placing about 11,000 telephone calls to residents townwide, informing them that Newtown High School would be open as an emergency shelter for storm victims.

Approximately 95 percent of the people called by the Code Red system received the calls, said Maureen Will, town deputy emergency management director. Ms Will urged people who have either changed their telephone numbers or changed their e-mail addresses to use the town’s website (www.newtown-ct.gov) to update their Code Red contact information.

Although the emergency shelter was open for periods on June 10, June 11, and June 12, no residents stayed there overnight, Ms Will said. Some residents, however, used showers that were available at the high school, she said.

Also, the town’s new Emergency Operations Center at Fairfield Hills was partially activated for use during the emergency period, she said.

Ms Will urged that when motorist encounter barriers that have been placed across roadways after storms, either in the form of barricades or yellow plastic warning tape, not to violate those barriers. Driving beyond such barriers could expose people to electrocution hazards from downed electric lines, she said.

The weather has been unpredictable this year, she said, adding that residents should have emergency kits on hand containing the essential items that they would need during emergencies.

Between 4:57 pm and 8:03 pm on June 9 , the five local volunteer fire companies responded to 50 calls for reports of wires down. Responding were Hook & Ladder, 23 calls; Sandy Hook, 15 calls; Hawleyville, 9 calls; Dodgingtown, 2 calls; Botsford 1 call.

Roads or road sections that were closed due to the storm included Alberts Hill Road, Bradley Lane, Brennan Road, Butterfield Road, Cherry Street, Currituck Road, Dinglebrook Lane, Echo Valley Road, Hanover Road, Old Green Road, Serenity Lane, Sugarloaf Road, Taunton Hill Road, Taunton Lake Road, and West Street.

Road closures generally occurred due to trees falling across the roads, and in many cases bringing down utility lines with them as they fell.

At one point during the storm, a Newtown Hook & Ladder fire truck in the Hanover Road area, near Echo Valley Road, became isolated after responding to a call because trees had fallen across all the roads that would allow the truck to exit that area. The truck known as Engine 1 was able to exit that area after about 2½ hours, said Hook & Ladder Fire Chief Jason Rivera.

Chief Rivera also urged motorists not to violate barriers that are placed across roads after storm-related damage occurs, noting the electrical hazards caused when fallen trees bring down live electrical lines. “People need to be aware of the dangers of electricity,” he said in urging people to avoid going near downed utility lines.

The problems posed by the storm were compounded by it having occurred during the evening rush period when traffic levels are high.

Of the many calls that came in during a short period of time, Chief Rivera said, “We try to get to all of them in a timely fashion.” After arriving at call, firefighters secure the area and then move on to the next call, he said.

Te areas hardest hit by the storm in the Hook & Ladder fire district included Hanover Road, Currituck Road, Parmalee Hill Road, Echo Valley Road and the streets adjacent to those roads, he said.

Sandy Hook Fire Chief Bill Halstead said that most of the problems encountered by firefighters involved trees that had fallen onto utility lines.

A lightning strike occurred at a home at 28 Pole Bridge Road, but caused no injuries, he said.

“I think the fire departments did a very good job,” he said.

Chief Halstead also urged that motorists who encounter barricades that have been placed across roads after storms not to violate those barricades because doing so could pose lethal electrical shock hazards.

 Hawleyville Fire Chief Joe Farrell said that Hawleyville fire crews were busy during the intense thunderstorm and in its aftermath. Hawleyville firefighters responded to the emergency calls using three fire trucks, he said.

The damage brought by the storm was spread out across the Hawleyville fire district, he said. After finding hazardous situations, firefighters cordoned off affected roads to keep motorists out of those areas, he said.

The storm cut electrical service to the Hawleyville Firehouse at 34 Hawleyville Road on June 9, Chief Farrell said, requiring an emergency generator there to be used until midday June 11, he said.

“We had enough personnel and [fire] apparatus to cover the calls and it went well,” Chief Farrell said.

Town Public Works Director Fred Hurley said the thunderstorm appeared to cause the most damage locally as it tracked from northwest to southeast, first hitting the Hanover Road area and then traveling across Sandy Hook. The northern end of Hanover Road was especially hard hit, he said.

The complicating problem faced in getting roads reopened to traffic involved removing trees entangled with power lines, Mr Hurley said.

On June 10, town road crews cleared roadways where the fallen trees had not become entangled in power lines, Mr Hurley said.

On June 11, town crews working with two CL&P crews were able to get all local roads opened to traffic by 8:30 pm, he said. The last street to be reopened was Sugarloaf Road in Sandy Hook, he said.

On June 12, CL&P had nine crews at work in Newtown, restoring failed electrical service, he said.

“We were lucky. It could have been worse,” Mr Hurley said, noting that adjacent Brookfield experienced much more storm damage than Newtown.