The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
‘Things are getting worse’
A Guilford neighborhood struggles without power
GUILFORD — After days in the dark, both figurative and literal, someone on Denison Drive in Guilford got fed up.
A tree fell across power and cable lines on the winding cul-de-sac Tuesday night as tropical storm Isaias rocked the region, blocking the street, residents said. It lay there until sometime Friday into Saturday, when it was chopped up by an unknown individual.
Neighborhood residents were among hundreds of thousands without power since Tuesday.
They include two parents who had been trading shifts watching over their new baby awaiting a liver transplant, some said.
A group met with State Rep. Sean Scanlon, D-Guilford, on Saturday morning to express
their frustration with Eversource’s response to the storm and seek action, as well as inquire about the process for removing trees in the heavily-wooded area.
Maria Cahill said she didn’t condone someone taking the matter into their own hands, as they had to go near the downed lines to do so. But it was understandable, she said, given the lack of communication from Eversource.
She said she called in to report the outage, but couldn’t get through. The company usually prioritizes serious situations, she noted; the family hoping to watch over their baby were trapped in the dark.
“I think it’s that overall sense that the people in charge are not doing what they’re supposed to do,” said Cahill. “I can’t condemn them for doing that.”
Resident Adam Gilbert said he understood it takes time to respond in the wake of the storm. Residents said they had lost power for days during Hurricanes Irene and Sandy, as well as the October 2011 snowstorm that rocked the region.
But the lack of information from Eversource, he said, had deepened the problem this time around. While the downed tree was gone, the neighborhood was still without power Saturday. Eversource had not provided a timetable for it to be restored; the company’s outage map indicated that the issue was still being evaluated.
“Things are not getting better,” said Gilbert. “Things are getting worse.”
“We’ve been through this multiple times,” said Cahill. “What’s it going to take to get this right?”
Scanlon said he would look into the matter on behalf of the residents in an effort to keep it from happening again. As he has in recent days, he expressed frustration with Eversource’s efforts after the storm.
In speaking with residents, he noted that the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority had announced it would investigate Eversource’s response to the storm, as well as United Illuminating, and suggested that the company should face penalties for inadequate planning.
Scanlon said firefighters and police had reported being unable to share on-the-ground information with Eversource to help guide its response; the company had failed to prioritize areas suggested by local communities; it had reported to him it was already working on Denison Drive, but there was no presence there Saturday.
“Their response has been an epic failure,” said Scanlon.
Eversource spokesman Mitch Gross said Saturday that, while he could not speak to the specifics of the situation on Denison Drive, the company understood and acknowledged the urgency and pain of residents across the state.
He said the company still needed to address 6,100 downed trees, 1,300 blocked roads and 200 miles of downed power lines — equivalent to the distance between Hartford and Portland, Maine — as it dealt with a storm that had dealt “extensive damage across the state.”
He noted the company had issues with its communications tools — both the outage map and the phone line for the public to report outages — during the storm. Eversource, he said, was working to share information with the public as effectively as possible, and remained committed to restoring power with all expediency.
“We’re making progress ... we know that sense of urgency (from residents),” said Gross. “It remains all hands on deck.”
The assembled residents on Denison Drive said, ultimately, they were used to banding together after storms.
Jodi Backes said she had moved to the area from the Midwest 11 years ago, experiencing four natural disasters in that time.
On a normal day, she said, she might not see any of her neighbors. But after a disaster, she said, they always come together to check on one another.
“This is a street that pulls together in times that are devastating,”
said Backes.
“We have great neighbors on this street,” said Larry Backes, Jodi’s husband. “We’re kind of at the mercy of Eversource. We’re begging.”
As the meeting with Scanlon broke up, a seeming utility truck pulled up to the street. But it turned around and left.
Scanlon said the gathering had shown both the best and the worst of the storm. On one hand, the residents had been frustrated by the situation, and would still be trapped without the aid of a stranger. On the other, they had come together to share their thoughts and work toward change.
He said he would use the experience in crafting legislation, with hopes of preventing the situation from happening again.
“I want this to be the beginning of a conversation about change, not the end of it,” Scanlon said.