WEATHERING THE STORM
Henri causes about 60K power outages, flooding; downgraded to tropical storm Lamont: ‘We will have to track this very closely going forward’
While Tropical Storm Henri promised devastating intensity Sunday, its erratic path, which shifted with every forecast before making landfall just outside the state’s border, may have spared Connecticut from a historic disaster.
When Gov. Ned Lamont told residents to “stay safe, stay home” Saturday evening, Henri was on course to slam into the central Connecticut coastline as a Category 1 hurricane, threatening wind gusts up to 75 mph and upwards of 6 inches of rain.
But some cold ocean water and a last-minute move to the east sent the center of the storm into the Rhode Island coast, where the impact was much more severe.
In an address not long after the storm made landfall in Westerly, R.I., which borders Connecticut, Lamont said the neighboring state had three times the power outages.
“Where it hits land is an incredibly important detail,” Lamont said. Its path away from the mouth of the Long Island Sound meant the storm surges that threatened the coast were less intense, he noted.
“Look, the storm did us a bit of a favor. It did Rhode Island no favors by veering a little bit to the northeast,” Lamont said Sunday evening.
The threat from the storm prompted a massive response from the power companies in Connecticut. Lamont said 6,500 beds in Connecticut were filled Saturday night with crews.
“It was better to be over prepared than under prepared,” Lamont said.
Despite all the circumstances that played in
Connecticut’s favor through the day Sunday, about 60,000 homes and businesses lost power, largely focused in the southeastern part of the state, nearest to where Henri made landfall. However, utility companies said they expected most of the outages to be restored by Monday night.
The models for the storm, which informed decisions from forecasters and officials to issue dire warnings to residents, showed Henri having the power necessary to fight high pressure steering it east.
“In the end, it didn’t quite meet expectations and it was easier to be pushed off to the east because it was weaker. It didn’t have the same intensity that was expected,” said Gary Lessor, chief meteorologist for the Western Connecticut University Weather Center.
The storm was expected to remain a Category 1 hurricane when it hit land, but the cold water drained the energy and it was downgraded to a tropical storm while still at sea.
“We knew there was colder water once it got away from everything, because of the colder water and the system not being as strong as anticipated, it fell apart quicker and faster,” Lessor said.
And while coastal communities were spared from the flooding that made Superstorm Sandy in 2012 so devastating, some inland areas saw heavy rains briefly inundate roads.
But rain totals for most fell well below the 3 to 6 inches predicted. Both New Haven and Bridgeport saw less than an inch of rain, while Hartford and Meriden received about 2 inches. The highest official total, Lessor said, was in Groton, where 2.79 inches of rain fell.
In shoreline communities, officials braced for a direct hit Sunday, asking some residents to evacuate, but the day passed without major incident.
“We prepare for the worst and hope for the best. We got the best. No injuries. No loss of life. No property damage,” said Rick Fontana, New Haven’s emergency operations director.
Other towns and cities along the coast also rode out the storm without much issue.
“We are pleased to see overnight the storm track for Henri shifted farther to the east,” Fairfield First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick said Sunday afternoon. “As a result, storm impacts in our area are less serious than the National Weather Service and the state of Connecticut guidance indicated last night.”
By Sunday afternoon,
when the threat had diminished, those who had hunkered down ventured out to watch the surf in Stonington.
“When do you get the opportunity to see big waves at DuBois Beach?” said Janis Mink, of Stonington. “It’s exhilarating when it’s not dangerous.”
Though rain was a major concern for the storm, given that Connecticut has seen above average precipitation that has left the ground saturated, the strength of the wind is what sets these storms apart.
When it hit in Rhode Island, Henri had sustained winds of 60 mph. But by the time it reached Con
necticut, the wind speed dropped from 50 mph in southeastern Connecticut to 40 mph in the central part of the state.
The highest gust recorded was 53 mph in Groton, which was not far from where Henri hit land.
Given that forecasts called for much stronger winds and a substantially higher volume of rain, the power companies prepared for it to be among the most damaging storms in recent memory.
Eversource, the state’s largest power company, had braced for a “level 2” storm, meaning upwards of 69 percent of its customers could be without power and restoration could take
up to 21 days.
“In terms of the duration, [Saturday] we really thought it was going to be a much more significant storm and we declared what we said was a ‘level 2,’ and a ‘level 2’ is very significant with a duration of approximately eight to 21 days [for restoration]. And I know the 21 days has been spoken a lot about,” said Craig Hallstrom, Eversource’s president for regional electric operations. “So we wake up [Sunday] morning, and clearly it is not that level of storm. It’s more of a ‘level 4’ storm for us, which is about five days.”
That said, Hallstrom believes most customers will be restored by Monday night.
United Illuminating, which provides power to customers in parts of New Haven and Fairfield counties, made similarly stark predictions, saying it estimated as many as half its customers would lose power.
Henri was predicted to be one of the first major tests since power companies faced withering criticism for the response to Tropical Storm Isaias last August when 800,000 homes and businesses lost power and thousands remained in the dark for days.
In response to the storm, Eversource, which weathered the harshest backlash, brought in hundreds of crews from out of state this weekend, promising customers its singular goal was to quickly restore power.
Ultimately, the company’s response was not challenged at the same level, with outages remaining well below predictions.
Tropical Storm Henri was expected to stall out along the state’s border with New York late Sunday. Lessor said it will then get absorbed into a frontal system moving through the region.
Unlike Henri, Isaias hit warm water before moving through the state, giving it a boost of strength.
“Thankfully, this time that wasn’t the case and spared everyone major headaches,” Lessor said.