The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Crews work to restore power to state customers
Eversource and United Illuminating said Friday most of those without power should have electricity restored by midnight.
As of 6 p.m. Friday, Eversource reported nearly 8,906 customers without power and United Illuminating 8,077.
Gov. Ned Lamont on Friday declared a state of emergency in response to the damage caused by the storm.
One of the hardest hit towns in Eversource’s territory was Branford with nearly 72 percent of its customers without power at noon Friday and 40 percent still out as of 6 p.m.
Eversource estimated that its hundreds of line and tree crews would substantially complete restoration for all towns in Connecticut by midnight, with the exception of Branford where the extensive damage will take additional time to fully restore and is expected to be mostly complete by Saturday night.
UI said it expected to restore service to most customers by Friday evening. For specific times, check out the UI outage map here and click on the pin closest to your location.
“Though not as widespread, the damage caused by (Thursday’s) storms is even more severe in some locations than Tropical Storm Isaias, particularly in the hardest-hit communities in western and southern Connecticut,” Eversource President of Regional Electric Operations Craig Hallstrom said.
He said crews are “working urgently to continue clearing roads and repair damage, and we estimate that restoration for all towns other than Branford will be substantially complete by midnight.”
Most of the Eversource outages are in western Connecticut and along the shoreline from Branford to Madison.
Eversource crews are repairing damage in various communities stretching from Branford and the Naugatuck Valley to Woodbury and New Milford.
In addition to Branford, the hardest-hit communities include Guilford, Roxbury and Bethany. The energy company stationed a mobile command unit in Branford to work hand-inhand with community leaders clearing roads and restoring customers in that particularly hard hit region of the state.
While midnight is the goal, UI said “it may take longer to restore some customers in areas where the damage is particularly extensive and UI’s electrical system needs to be rebuilt. The company will update its restoration estimates as it proceeds with damage assessment.”
UI said as the storms subsided Thursday night, the company sent out more than 260 line and tree workers and other field personnel to help clear roadways, assess damage and restore power.
“UI crews were working alongside National Guard personnel to clear trees and downed lines from roadways, at the direction of state and municipal authorities. Meanwhile, restoration teams targeted large outages where many customers could be brought back at once, while damage assessors worked to develop a full picture of the devastation and assemble a detailed plan for restoration,” the utility company said in a statement.