One-Quarter Of Newtown Electric Customers Lose Power

By Andrew Gorosko

An intense thunderstorm that hit the area Tuesday afternoon dropped heavy rain here and left approximately one-quarter of Connecticut Light & Power Company’s (CL&P) customers in Newtown without electricity during the height of the power outages.

Approximately 2,625 electric customers were without power at about 3 pm, said CL&P spokesman Mitch Gross.

By 10 pm, electric crews had restored power to the Newtowners affected by the power failures, Mr Gross said.

Intense thunderstorms resulted in power outages to approximately 58,000 CL&P customers in the state.

The hardest hit areas were northern Fairfield County and southern Litchfield County, with widespread outages occurring in towns including Bethel, Bridgewater, Brookfield, Danbury, Kent, New Fairfield, New Milford, Ridgefield, Roxbury, Southbury and Sherman. In several of those towns, all electric service failed. All power was out in the towns Bridgewater, Brookfield, New Milford, and Sherman, with almost all power out in Kent.

Apparently a single lightning strike that hit a major electric transmission line or transmission tower caused the widespread power outages, Mr Gross said. That lightning strike resulted in power disruptions at six electric substations in the region, he said.

CL&P crews methodically checked the physical integrity of the transmission line and the substations in restoring electric service to the area, he said.

The widespread outages were unusual in that so many individual substations lost their electricity, Mr Gross said.

In Newtown, firefighters responded to a series of storm-related calls during Tuesday afternoon, including falsely-triggered alarm systems, utility wires down, and a flooded basement.