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Relatively ‘Smooth Sailing’ For Newtown After Nor’Easter

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A nor’easter anticipated to cause several inches of rain and strong winds ended up not causing significant issues when it blew through Newtown on Sunday, October 12 into Monday, October 13.

The nor’easter was predicted to bring two to three inches of rainfall spread out over a 36- to 48-hour time period as well as strong winds across inland Connecticut, according to an October 11 press release from First Selectman Jeff Capeci.

Public Works Director Fred Hurley said Newtown faced winds “in the 20-25 mph range.”

He added, “[Winds in that range] will still blow leaves and dead branches ... but as far as knocking trees down, by and large, that didn’t happen.”

Hurley said it was not pouring rain like the historic August storm last year, which brought an overall average of 12 inches of rain to Newtown. The rain from last weekend’s nor’easter, he noted, was a lot of rain spread over a fairly long period of time.

To that end, Hurley said he was not aware of anyone in town losing power.

“There was a total of about 10,000 outages in the state, but that was down along the coast which got hit the hardest. They received wind gusts around 30-35 [mph]. That wasn’t really inland,” Hurley explained.

Hurley called the nor’easter “very routine,” adding that Public Works has been taking down trees as needed. However, Hurley called this more of a maintenance function than it is an emergency response, as damage from storms can gradually wear away at trees and cause them to fall.

“But those are just a handful of situations that have been worsened by excessive rain. That’s more of an ongoing process and not just because of the storm,” Hurley said.

Newtown Deputy Emergency Management Director Maureen Will called the nor’easter “just another rain event.” She said there were only a total of four blocked roads over the weekend, but they were all rectified very quickly.

“People heeded the warning, stayed home, and enjoyed the day off. Otherwise it was business as usual,” Will said.

She noted that the town’s four fire departments were ready to clear lines as needed; if a tree and wires were down, they would work to secure the area and respond to issues as they arose.

“If they see movement in trees that look like they’re suddenly starting to lean, then give [Public Works] a call, because the tree warden will go out and take a look at it to see if there’s clear and present danger,” Hurley said.

Newtown Police Department Chief David Kullgren said police did not have to perform any rescue procedures as a result of the storm.

“I kept waiting for my phone to ring [for emergencies in town], and it didn’t,” Kullgren said.

Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.

A crew from Lewis Tree Service cuts and clears a tree that fell across Church Hill Road during the tail end of a nor’easter around 9:15 Monday morning. The tree pulled wires with it, and led to the closure of the busy roadway for nearly five hours. Locally, the storm was much less powerful than had been predicted.—Bee Photos, Hicks
Employees of Bee Publishing Company arrived at work Monday, October 13, and found a large limb had fallen from a tree adjacent to their driveway and landed on the eastern roofline of 5 Church Hill Road. Newtown Arbor Services had the parking lot fully reopened by Tuesday afternoon, once all nearby wires were repaired and restored by Eversource.
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