Rain And Wind Topple Trees, Causing Power Outages

By Andrew Gorosko

A storm that dropped significant rainfall and brought high winds to the area kept emergency personnel busy last weekend, as they responded to multiple calls for help prompted by storm-related damage.

More than 500 local electric customers were without power at one point during the storm.

The high winds that accompanied heavy rain on the night of Saturday, March 8, felled a local landmark tree at about 8:45 pm, bringing down the disease-weakened 80-foot-tall spruce Christmas tree that stood near the southwest corner of Hawley Pond at the Ram Pasture. (See separate story.)

Newtown Hook & Ladder First Assistant Fire Chief Mike McCarthy said the town Christmas tree was rotted with disease and the stresses placed on it by the storm caused the tree to topple over.

Because Hook & Ladder firefighters were busy with another emergency at the time, Botsford firefighters were dispatched to the scene of the fallen Christmas tree, Mr McCarthy said.

The heavy weather also brought down a spruce tree in front of a home at 11 Glover Avenue, pulling down a power line there about 8:04 pm.

Also, a large spruce tree fell over at a home at 16 Main Street about 8:17 pm. That toppled tree damaged a natural gas service line as it fell over, causing a gas leak. Until the gas leak could be repaired, the section of Main Street between its intersections with Church Hill Road and Glover Avenue was closed to traffic.

Most of the calls that Hook & Ladder responded to involved damaged trees and utility lines, Mr McCarthy said.

Between 6:02 pm on Saturday, March 8, and 5:51 pm on Sunday, March 9, firefighters from Hook & Ladder, Dodgingtown, Hawleyville, Sandy Hook, and Botsford received almost 30 individual dispatches concerning storm-related problems, involving fallen trees, fallen tree limbs, and resulting power line problems.

Firefighters responded to storm-related problems at locations including Birch Hill Road, Scudder Road, Glover Avenue, Swamp Road, High Rock Road, Rowledge Pond Road, Main Street, Jordan Hill Road, Hawley Road, Town’s End Road, Lake Road, Echo Valley Road, Toddy Hill Road, Hawleyville Road, Obtuse Road, Dodgingtown Road, Great Ring Road, and Old Gate Lane. (See fire reports)

Heavy Weather

Gary Lessor, assistant director of the Weather Center at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, said that one wind gust recorded there late on the night of March 8 indicated a 53-mph wind speed. Sustained winds blew at 20 to 30 miles per hour, he said.

About 2¼ inches of rain overall fell on Friday and Saturday, he said. On Friday, about ¾ inch of rain fell, with the remaining 1½ inches falling on Saturday.

Mr Lessor termed the turbulent weather a “significant spring storm.”

Rob Eisenson, a WestConn assistant professor of meteorology, said that the rain on Friday and Saturday saturated the soil, weakening trees’ physical connections to the ground. The high winds on Saturday night then prompted those weakened trees to topple over.

The intense weather was a factor in at least one motor vehicle accident that occurred on the night of March 8 in Newtown.

About 8 pm, during high winds, a tree fell onto a coupe being driven by a man near the intersection Birch Hill Road and Scudder Road, resulting in the auto colliding with a utility pole. The man was treated at Danbury Hospital and released. The accident resulted in an extended road closure in that area while repairs were made. (See police reports).

Sandy Hook firefighters responded to more wind-related problems than water-related problems, said Sandy Hook Fire Chief Bill Halstead.

 The rainfall did not cause any flooding problems at the Shady Rest neighborhood along Lake Zoar, he said. Firefighters monitored that flood-prone area to check on possible problems.

There was no need to open the town’s emergency shelter, said Chief Halstead, who also is the town’s emergency preparedness director.

Power Outages

Connecticut Light & Power Company (CL&P) spokesman Mitch Gross said the storm caused scattered power outages due to fallen trees damaging electrical lines.

The advancing windstorm on the night of March 8 first hit Fairfield County and then tracked eastward across the state, he said.

Between 8 and 9 pm, electric utility crews started receiving calls for help in response to power outages. At 9 pm, CL&P opened its emergency operations center to field calls for help. It stayed open for 28 hours, Mr Gross said.

The peak of CL&P customer electrical outages in Newtown occurred about 1 am March 9, when 519 local electric customers were without electricity, Mr Gross said. By 9 am that day, the number of outages had dropped to 167. By 6 pm, there were only nine outages remaining, he said. Newtown has about 11,000 CL&P customers.

In CL&P’s service area, which includes 149 of the state’s 169 municipalities, about 18,500 customers were without power during the peak of storm-related electrical problems, he said.

When winds exceed 50 miles per hour, and the ground is saturated with rain, trees tend to fall down, damaging electrical lines, Mr Gross said.

To repair the damage caused by the storm, CL&P brought in electric crews from out-of-state to supplement its in-state workers.

Town Public Works Director Fred Hurley said the heavy rains resulted in an estimated $25,000 to $30,000 in damage to local dirt roads. Dirt roads that were damaged included Tamarack Road, Sanford Road, Dug Hill Road, Old Town Road, Ox Hill Road, Point O’ Rocks Road, Town’s End Road, Putnam Drive, Robin Hill Road, Edgelake Road, Lakeview Terrace, Beaver Dam Road, Head O’ Meadow Road, and Shepard Hill Road, he said.

After the storm, town road crews went to the affected areas to repair the damage, he said. About eight dirt roads received significant damage in the storm, he said.

Police Sergeant Douglas Wisentaner was on duty when the worst weather occurred on the night of Saturday, March 8.

It was a busy period for police, with many tree limbs falling in the storm, he said. Local firefighters and public works employees aided police in dealing with the many problems caused by the storm, he said.

Just before the most intense part of the storm hit, at about 7:30 pm March 8, police responded to a one-vehicle accident at the northern intersection of Brushy Hill Road and John Beach Road. A man driving a pickup truck collided with a utility pole, resulting in a 16-hour road closure in that area while repairs were made, Sgt Wisentaner said.

During certain periods, sections of Brushy Hill Road, Birch Hill Road, Jordan Hill Road, and Farrell Road were closed to traffic, Sgt Wisentaner said.

“It was a busy night with the limited officers we had,” he said. Some police who work the overnight shift were called in to work early to beef up the patrol staff when some added manpower was needed on the night of March 8, he said.

“It was definitely poor weather conditions…with tree branches down and wires down,” he said. Because the storm occurred in darkness, it made responding to the emergencies more complicated, he said.

Considering the conditions that they faced, police did a good job in responding to the various emergencies, the sergeant said.

Botsford Fire Chief Wayne Ciaccia said that storm-related damage resulted in temporary road closures at Swamp Road, High Rock Road, and Rowledge Pond Road.

One resident, Betty Christensen of West Street, unfortunately learned that the intense gusty winds of the storm had upended, damaged, and cast aside a large piece of corrugated metal that had been positioned over a patio at the rear of her home.