Date: Fri 05-Jun-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

weather-tornado-scare

Full Text:

Newtown Gets A Tornado Scare

BY STEVE BIGHAM

Newtown residents got a taste of what life can be like in Kansas Sunday night

when the area had a tornado scare.

At around 9 pm, meteorologists began informing residents that the National

Weather Service had issued a tornado warning for several towns, including

Newtown. They urged people to seek shelter in a basement, pointing to radar

screens showing a nasty storm headed eastward toward the Danbury area.

The news came at a bad time for residents who were tuned into the Bulls-Pacers

playoff basketball game at the time, and many opted to stay put. This is

Connecticut, after all, not a state known for its ravaging tornadoes. However,

there were others who took the advice to heart and headed for underground

shelter (see related story).

As it turns out, the only weather event was a severe thunderstorm. Just the

talk of tornados was enough to raise the general anxiety level in town. Severe

thunderstorms struck the area once again on Tuesday night.

"I can't remember the last time this area had a tornado warning," said Chris

Wasserback of the Western Connecticut State weather center. "It's not

something that's been seen in Fairfield County in quite some time."

According to the meteorologist, the area became a prime spot for tornadoes as

an eastward moving cold front headed into a warm sector hovering over the

Danbury area. Temperatures at the time were in the upper 80s.

"Basically you had these clashing air masses. You had this warm humid air mass

in front of a cold front," he explained, figuring the storm had something to

do with El Nino. After all, it seems just about everything is affected by that

strange weather phenomenon this year.

Though there were no tornadoes reported in the state, wind gusts of up to 65

mph were reported in Windsor. Danbury received 2.74 inches of rainfall.

According to Roselyn Wimbish of Connecticut Light & Power, 1,473 customers in

Newtown lost power from the storm, with the highest number of power outages

coming around 1:30 am Monday morning. The Hattertown area, as well as Elm

Drive and roads in and around Taunton Hill Road were reportedly hit the

hardest.

Police Dispatcher Corey Robinson reported that while working on the second

shift Sunday night (4 pm to midnight), he received about 30 calls from people

inquiring about a tornado warning. Callers asked about what they should do in

the event of a tornado, he said.

Mr Robinson urged residents to use the E-911 system only to report emergency

situations, not to inquire about weather conditions.

At the fire/ambulance dispatch center, there were ten calls related to the

storm, including a handful of trees on power lines, according to dispatcher

Carol Mayhew.

Overall, Mr Wasserbeck said he did not think people took the warning too

seriously.

"That's not a good reaction," he said. "It doesn't happen very often in this

area, but that's not to say it can't."

The last significant tornado to hit Connecticut occurred back in 1989 when

twisters ripped through Cornwall Village, Bantam, Waterbury and Hamden. Today,

those towns still show the scars from the storm, especially Cornwall where

hundreds of downed trees remain at the spot where they fell.