Date: Fri 28-Aug-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

weather-storm-power-outages

Full Text:

Storm Blacks Out Portions Of Newtown

BY STEVE BIGHAM

A fierce thunderstorm ripped through Newtown early Wednesday morning, knocking

out power to 2,223 customers.

The storm knocked down trees, including one in front of Newtown High School

that took down five sections of primary electrical wires. The mess caused some

problems Wednesday morning as teachers were forced to maneuver around the

downed wires as they arrived for work.

Sandy Hook appeared to be the hardest hit area, especially along Sherman

Street, where several trees fell to the ground.

For those awake at 12:30 am Wednesday morning, the storm was a spectacular

site with lightning bolts shooting across the sky and lighting up the

landscape.

According to Bill Stax of Connecticut Light & Power, Newtown appeared to be

the hardest hit town in the region. At 12:25 am, 81 customers lost power in

the Orchard Hill area and minutes later, 576 customers in the area of Toddy

Hill Road also lost power when a tree fell on the wires. At 6:24 am, 1,270

customers were affected by an outage in the area of Simm Lane. Another 296

customers were without power in the Gelding Hill Road area because of a tree

on wires.

"There weren't a lot of individual outages, but a lot of customers lost

service," said CL&P spokesperson Susan Marshall. Most of the power was

restored by 9 am Wednesday, she said.

Chris Wasserback of the Western Connecticut State University weather center

said the area was hit with more than two inches of rain and winds of up to 28

mph. The storm was not related to Hurricane Bonnie, which is much farther

south.

Firefighters began responding to calls of wires and trees down at 12:53 am on

Wednesday. Crews were dispatched to Birch Hill Road, Berkshire Road, Gelding

Hill, Sherman Street, Old Mill, Cherry Street, Brushy Hill Road, Rock Ridge

Road, Hanover Road, Sugar Street, Mt Nebo, Boggs Hill, and Phyllis Lane. There

also were a number of fire alarms erroneously set off by the storm.

Ms Marshall said many more potential power outages were prevented by the new

devices, called reclosures, that have been installed on many power lines.

"If a tree touches a wire it causes an interruption that causes your lights to

flicker," she explained. "Reclosures try to send power through the line again.

They try twice, which explains why your lights might flicker several times. If

there is still a problem, there will be an outage. But in a lot of other

cases, customers won't lose power."

At 10:30 am on Wednesday, the emergency dispatcher sent two fire companies and

the ambulance to Hanover Road after a caller said a woman and her child were

trapped in their car there by fallen wires. The passerby said she spotted the

victims in their car in an area between the monument and the railroad bridge,

then rushed to the General Store to call 911 for help. When the emergency

crews reached the scene, however, the car was gone. Broken cable wires dangled

from the poles.