Windstorm Drops Branches;

Power Fails, Roads Close

By Andrew Gorosko

A windstorm that lasted for about eight hours on Wednesday caused scattered power outages throughout town as trees and tree limbs came down, bringing down electric lines, often on local roads.

Statewide, at the height of wind-related power outages at 4:05 pm Wednesday, there were 23,872 Connecticut Light & Power Company (CL&P) customers without electricity, said CL&P spokesman Frank Poirot. The number of Newtown CL&P customers who were affected by outages during the storm was not available before press time on Thursday morning, but as of 9 am on Thursday, 20 Newtown CL&P customers were without electricity.

The town’s volunteer fire companies responded to about 20 calls for service across town related to the high winds. The calls began at about 11 am and ran until about 6:45 pm. Most calls concerned trees and wires down.

The locations of wind-related fire calls included: Platts Hill Road, Head O’ Meadow Road, Aunt Park Lane, Flat Swamp Road, Engleside Terrace, Timber Lane, Eden Hill Road, Brushy Hill Road, Church Hill Road, Butterfield Road, New Lebbon Road, Pond Brook Road, Cemetery Road, Gray’s Plain Road, Berkshire Road, Pilgrim Lane, Shady Rest Boulevard, Canterbury Lane, Great Ring Road, and Pond Brook Road.

Police Sergeant Douglas Wisentaner said that the prime problems that police faced in dealing with wind-related damage were the closure of a section of Route 34 near its western intersection with Chestnut Hill Road, and the closure of Route 302 near its intersection with Cemetery Road.

Police created detours for traffic when those major road sections were closed, diverting traffic from those areas until the roads were reopened, he said.

The sergeant said he knew of no motor vehicle accidents that were caused by the windstorm, nor any injuries caused by the storm.

Sgt Wisentaner noted that the windstorm occurred in daylight hours on a sunny day, making the situation simpler to deal with than if it had occurred in darkness or in rainy, snowy, or icy conditions.

The general effect of the windstorm was that many tree branches fell to the ground across town, he said.

David Bratz, deputy public works director, said that the high winds resulted in calls to the department for help in removing about 20 tree branches that had fallen onto local roads.

About eight roads were closed to through-traffic temporarily due to tree blockages, he said. Other roads had partial blockages due to fallen trees.

Closed roads included New Lebbon Road, Gray’s Plain Road, Cemetery Road, Flat Swamp Road, and Platts Hill Road.

“It was ‘ripping’ yesterday afternoon,” Mr Bratz said of the number of calls for help received by the public works department.

If no utility lines came down with the fallen trees, public works crews were able to remove the fallen timber, but if electric lines were involved, the crews needed to wait until CL&P workers arrived at the scene, Mr Bratz explained.

“We responded as quickly as we could,” he said, adding that signs were posted stating road closures and detours, as required by the circumstances.

Mr Bratz said the windstorm’s effect was widespread. “It was pretty much the town in general, all over,” he said.

In many cases, the tree branches that fell onto streets did not totally block the roads, he said. He estimated that about two-thirds of the trees that fell onto streets had come into contact with utility lines.

The town typically experiences two or three weather incidents a year in which numerous tree branches fall, he said.

By about 8:30 pm Wednesday all local roads that had been closed due to the windstorm had been reopened, Mr Bratz said.