Date: Fri 24-Jul-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

weather-baseball

Full Text:

A Wild Monday Night In Newtown And Beyond

BY STEVE BIGHAM

Monday night was a weird one, when a series of unrelated incidents made one

wonder whether there was still a full moon hidden by the clouds.

It started with a truck accident on Interstate 84 and ended in the 17th inning

at Yankee Stadium.

Around 4:15 pm, the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire Company, Newtown Ambulance Corp

and the Danbury Hospital paramedic were dispatched to a tractor-trailer truck

rollover on I-84 westbound between exits 12 and 11, just west of Lake Zoar. No

one could have known that the accident would result in the tying up of traffic

for the next six hours. In fact, traffic was at a standstill, backed up beyond

Waterbury, until 9:30 pm.

With the truck on its side, the situation created havoc for emergency

personnel, who brought in two heavy-duty trucks from Hilario's to finally

remove the vehicles.

Many of the drivers opted to wait it out on the highway rather than take their

chances by getting off an exit to travel on unknown back roads. Others did

exit I-84, however, and most of them made their way through Newtown. The town

probably did not make a good first impression to passing motorists since not

only was traffic tied up, but also much of the center was in complete

darkness.

This was the result of a seemingly mild thunderstorm which struck the area,

knocking out power to nearly 900 CL&P customers in Newtown. Black clouds moved

overhead, making a dark night even darker. CL&P spokesperson Susan Marshall

said Newtown was one of the worst hit towns in the area.

However, both the Amoco and Shell service stations were open and cars and

their occupants streamed in by the dozens for gas and trips to the bathroom.

Power was out at the Pizza Palace just next door to the Shell station, and the

outage continued all the way to Main Street. Even the bright Big Y sign was

out. The flagpole remained illuminated, however.

Other parts of town were also affected. According to CL&P, 267 customers lost

power in the Obtuse Road section of town, 553 lost power in the Bennetts

Bridge Road area and 63 lost power along Church Hill Road.

More road problems were encountered when a man apparently lost control of his

car on the sharp curve on Castle Hill Road just west of King Street, slamming

into a stonewall. Fortunately, he was not believed to be injured.

Even for those who finally made it home safely to a house with power, there

was one last unusual event to behold on television: a rare 17-inning game

between the Yankees and the Tigers. The game lasted for nearly five hours. And

this game was only the first of two. The second game went just nine innings

but by the time the last out was made it was after 1:30 Tuesday morning.