Storm Irene Downs Trees, Blocks Roads,

And Unplugs Newtown

By Andrew Gorosko

Al Lara, spokesman for the Connecticut Light & Power Company (CL&P) on the morning of Thursday, September 1, said the utility company expects that all the Newtown electric service that failed as result of damage from Tropical Storm Irene would be restored by the end of Wednesday, September 7.

The projection represents the outside limit of when CLP expects all local electric service to be restored, Mr Lara said.

As of 10:30 am on Thursday, September 1, there were 6,531 CL&P customers in Newtown still without power. That number represents 60 percent of CL&P’s 10,874 local customers.

At 5 pm on Monday, September 29, about 82 percent, or 9,019 Newtown CL&P customers, were without electric service.

Although there was extensive property damage, there were no reports of personal injuries stemming from the storm locally.

In view of the extensive damage caused by Irene, which hit the area on Sunday, August 28, the town’s school system, which had been scheduled to start classes for the 2011-12 school year on Tuesday, August 30, rescheduled the start of school to Tuesday, September 6.

Besides the widespread power outages across town, which included many public buildings losing electricity, the storm caused many trees to fall across roads, blocking their use, resulting in school officials opting to delay the start of school.

The combination of high winds and heavy rains resulted in tree sections falling onto several houses, creating varying amounts of damage, officials said.

Trees or tree sections were reported to have fallen onto houses at 62 Scudder Road and 3 Shady Rest Boulevard, as well as another house in the Shady Rest neighborhood.

A tree fell onto a home on Curry Drive. Also damaged by a falling tree was a structure at 208 Hattertown Road.

Chief Building Official John Poeltl said that the damage was so extensive at the Scudder Road house that it was condemned. A couple was sleeping inside the building when the tree fell onto it, shifting the position of the roof, he said.

Residents who are concerned about building damage caused by the storm should contact the town building department, Mr Poeltl said. The telephone number is 203-270-4260.

Town Health Director Donna Culbert said that health department staff worked closely with local food service businesses in terms of health issues posed by power outages, which caused refrigeration to stop working.

Businesses, including the Big Y and Caraluzzi’s supermarkets in the town center, discarded food due to a lack of refrigeration, Ms Culbert said.

The Stop & Shop supermarket in Botsford did not lose power during the storm and its aftermath, she said.

The town has 76 licensed food service businesses.

To make life without electricity more bearable, the town distributed free drinking water and bagged ice on Wednesday at Reed Intermediate School. A similar distribution was planned for Thursday.

Hot showers for residents without power initially were provided at Reed School and then at Newtown High School.

“These are extraordinary circumstances,” Ms Culbert said, adding that the health department’s priorities in handling such an emergency include life safety, the maintenance of people’s physical needs, and clear communications.

Bill Halstead, town director of emergency management, said of the storm and its aftermath, “Everything went as well as could be expected for a storm of that size.”

Volunteers Respond

Between 5:47 pm on Thursday, August 25, and 6:33 am on Thursday, September 1, the town’s volunteer fire companies responded to an aggregate 335 calls for service, the large majority of which stemmed from the adverse effects of Tropical Storm Irene, which hit the area on Sunday, August 28.

Most of the storm-related calls involved fallen trees and dropped utility lines caused by high winds, and flooded basements caused by heavy rain. The calls occurred all across town.

The day with the greatest number of emergency responses was August 28, when there were 222 calls for service. On August 29, there were 57 calls.

Responding to the calls were fire companies from Hook & Ladder, Dodgingtown, Hawleyville, Sandy Hook, and Botsford.

“It’s been years since we had a storm of that magnitude,” Mr Halstead said.

Fire companies’ responses to calls often have required firefighters to take roundabout routes to calls in light of extensive road blockages, he said.

Mr Halstead said he believes that each the five local fire companies responded to calls involving falling trees or tree sections that had hit houses.

“This has been a crazy year,” he said of the major warm weather and cold weather storms that have hit the town, as well as the many structure fires that have occurred. Mr Halstead also is the Sandy Hook fire chief and the town fire marshal.

The sheer number of fire calls that have occurred during Irene has put a strain on local volunteer fire companies, he said.

After all electric service is restored, the town will need to continue its storm cleanup work, Mr Halstead said.

CL&P spokeswoman Janine Saunders said of Irene, which caused 671,789 power outages to CL&P customers statewide at the peak of outages, said, “This has been a very difficult restoration.”

The firm has 1.2 million customers statewide.

“The eastern part of the state was really affected,” she said.

CL&P’s priorities in restoring power include getting electricity back in service at facilities such as police stations, fire stations, and public water treatment facilities, she said. CL&P first focuses on restoring electricity to its main circuits, after which smaller circuits are repaired, she said.

Irene was a lengthy storm that damaged electric facilities during a relatively long period, she noted.

About 95 percent of storm-related damage was caused by falling trees, she said.

People who want to learn CL&P’s estimates for when power will be restored in their area may call CL&P toll-free at 800-286-2000.

Ms Saunders said CL&P understands that people without electric service are frustrated by the disruption in their lives. Irene caused an unprecedented amount of damage to the company’s electric service network, she said.

The power outages were scattered across town, creating a patchwork effect in which some neighborhoods retained their power, but many others had none.

One resident remarked as he walked out a public building on Monday morning that life is not fun without electricity, a ubiquitous utility that many take for granted until it fails.

Frustration Sets In

First Selectman Pat Llodra expressed concern that some residents have taken it upon themselves to try to clear fallen trees from local roads. Residents should wait for professional crews to do that work, in view of the electric shock hazards posed by such activity, she said.

Mrs Llodra said she understands that residents are frustrated by the problems posed by the storm damage.

Fred Hurley, town director of public works, said Tropical Storm Irene was the worst such event to hit the area since Hurricane Gloria in 1985.

On Monday morning, crews worked to open access to and from Walnut Tree Village, a large age-restricted condominium complex on Walnut Tree Hill Road in Sandy Hook where a fallen tree had blocked travel.

Later that day, crews worked to restore power for the town’s sewage treatment plant on Commerce Road. The plant had been operating on power supplied by an emergency generator.

The town has hired several private contractors to help it with the storm cleanup project, Mr Hurley said.

“We were very lucky on flooding,” Mr Hurley said, adding that such problems were minimal.

Mr Hurley noted that First Light, the electric utility company that operates Stevenson Dam and Shepaug Dam on the Housatonic River, had drawn down the water levels on the river impoundments known as Lake Zoar and Lake Lillinonah before the storm as a precautionary measure to curb potential river flooding.

Roads Blocked

Mr Hurley said that about 100 local roads were obstructed by the storm. Such situations included downed trees, downed wires, and combinations of downed trees and wires.

“It was not as bad as it could have been,” he noted.

Had wind speeds been higher, the fallen- tree damage could have been more extensive, he said.

Maureen Will, town director of emergency communications, said Monday, “We’re in ‘recovery phase.’”

The most intensive period of emergency response was from about 12:30 am to 7 pm on Sunday, she said.

Twenty people stayed at the town’s emergency shelter at Newtown High School, she said.

The town placed Code Red automated telephone calls to residents, announcing the availability of the shelter, and instructing residents to contact CL&P directly about power outages.

Mrs Llodra also made automated phone calls to residents updating them on the town’s recovery from storm damage.

The town’s new Emergency Operations Center at Fairfield Hills was put into service during the storm. It was in use from 5 pm Saturday, August 27, until 3 pm Sunday, August 28.

Not Prepared For Lengthy Outages

Although the public was well aware that the storm was coming and was prepared for it, people were not prepared for the prospect for lengthy power outages, Ms Will said.

Some people have called the town’s emergency dispatch center complaining that they are “trapped” in their neighborhoods by trees fallen across roads, expressing anger over the situation, she said.

“CL&P is doing the best that it possibly can,” she said.

“It was definitely a lot worse than Gloria,” in terms of physical damage, Ms Will said of the 1985 hurricane that hit the area, adding that the number of power outages created by Irene is unprecedented.

Main Street was closed to traffic for an extended period on Sunday due to a large tree that fell across the thoroughfare just south of the flagpole, she said.

Ms Will urged that motorists who encounter barricades or yellow warning tape on streets should not remove them. Such warning devices are posted to alert people of hazards, she said.

Residents should not remove trees from roads due to electrocution hazards, she said.