Windstorm Topples Trees, Causing Property Damage, Power Outages

By Andrew Gorosko

Unrelenting high winds, accompanied by driving rains, buffeted Newtown Wednesday, bringing down dozens of trees, many across power lines, resulting in extensive property damage and electrical outages that cut power to about 20 percent of local residents.

The storm kept all the town’s five fire companies busy throughout the day, responding to numerous wind-related calls.

Fire companies were dispatched on 39 calls between 7:04 am and 4:47 pm. Almost all of those calls involved utility wires being brought down by fallen trees in the storm.

Firefighters responded to calls on streets including South Main Street, High Rock Road, Walnut Tree Hill Road, Old Bethel Road, Dusty Lane, Parmalee Hill Road, Diamond Drive, Ox Hill Road, Platts Hill Road, Taunton Hill Road, West Street, Old Mill Road, Toddy Hill Road, Chestnut Hill Road, Berkshire Road, Mackenzie Circle, Main Street, Osborn Hill Road, Palestine Road, Town’s End Road, High Bridge Road, Poverty Hollow Road, Cedar Hill Road, Haleyville Road, Underhill Road, Juniper Road, Washington Avenue, Ridge Road, and Crestwood Drive.

At 7:04 am, Newtown Hook & Ladder firefighters responded to 101 South Main Street, where a fallen tree had brought wires down, said Fire Chief Ray Corbo.

The fallen lines resulted in an hourlong traffic snarl in the area during the morning rush, with vehicles backing up to Glover Avenue on the north and to Orchard Hill Road on the south. Alternating one-way traffic was channeled through the problem area until the emergency could be resolved.

Considering the location of the problem, Connecticut Light & Power (CL&P) crews treated it as a high priority, Chief Corbo said.

 At 9:45 am, Sandy Hook firefighters responded to 7 Mackenzie Circle in the Shady Rest section near Lake Zoar, where a tree had fallen onto a house, causing a significant amount of property damage, said Fire Chief Bill Halstead. The main trunk of the tree broke through the house’s roof and into a bedroom, he said.

An unidentified middle-aged man who lives there was at home at the time of the incident, but was not injured, Chief Halstead said. An emergency repair crew was summoned to seal the house to the elements. A dollar value of the damage was not available.

Also, a tree fell onto a driveway at 7 Old Mill Road about 9:17 am, blocking access to that property, the fire chief said. There were no injuries in that incident.

A tree fell across Chestnut Hill Road about 9:27 am, bringing wires down and blocking traffic’s passage there.

At 8:05 am, Hook & Ladder firefighters went to 36 Parmalee Hill Road, where a fallen tree had brought down primary electrical lines onto the road.

Firefighters blocked off the northern section of the road for safety’s sake, said Chief Corbo. But someone, for some reason, later removed those barriers, requiring firefighters to return to the area at about 1:49 pm to replace the road barriers, he said.

Botsford, Hawleyville, and Dodgingtown firefighters also were busy during the day, responding to multiple wind-related calls.

The intensely flapping flag atop the Main Street flagpole, which canted upward under the relentless winds, and the thousands of pieces of small wood debris scattered across local roads gave ample evidence of the damage being wrought by the storm.

CL&P spokeswoman Sandra Ahearn said that at the height of the problem, at about 8:30 pm Wednesday, approximately 2,100 local electric customers were without power. CL&P has approximately 10,300 customers in Newtown.

Initial storm-related outages were reported at 8:30 am, when 266 customers without electric service. That number grew to 1,600 outages at noon, approximately 1,700 outages at 2:30 pm, and then peaked at 2,100 outages at 8:30 pm. By 10:30 pm, the number of outages had dropped to 1,200.

As of 7 am Thursday, approximately Newtown 1,020 customers remained without electric service.

CL&P hopes to have all lost power restored in the state by late Saturday, or by Sunday afternoon, Ms Ahearn said.

As of 7 am Thursday, 32,600 CL&P customers in the state were still without electricity, and there were 1,800 electrical “trouble spots” reported.

Ms Ahearn said that the 108,000 outages reported statewide during the Wednesday windstorm represent the largest overall power outage in the state since the extensive blackout that occurred in the summer of 2003.