Intense storm leaves thousands without power
An intense storm battered Connecticut with rain and high winds that caused more than 100,000 outages and significant flooding in some areas on Friday.
The storm left tens of thousands without power as extremely cold weather moved in late Friday and is expected to continue through the holiday weekend.
At the height of Friday’s storm, officials in Fairfield, Darien and Norwalk warned residents to stay away from flooded areas, including beaches and parks as high tide rolled in.
Gov. Ned Lamont’s office advised residents to avoid state parks where the storms brought down trees. Lamont also warned of the dropping temperatures that could cause icing conditions through the weekend.
“We are expected to receive another burst of high winds on Friday afternoon that are likely to cause many more power outages,” Lamont said Friday afternoon. “Additionally, while it is mild and rainy outside right now, we are going to see temperatures plummet around dusk on Friday evening, and these wet conditions could freeze over very quickly.”
State crews were unable to pre-treat roads due to the heavy rainfall, he said. “I strongly urge everyone to get to where you need to be before temperatures drop this evening because the roads will become very slick,” Lamont said.
Lamont’s office also said the state Department of Motor Vehicles suspended rules regarding limitations on the intrastate transportation of gasoline, diesel fuel, fuel oil, biodiesel and propane to ensure residents could access fuel as needed while temperatures plummet.
Power outages peaked around 7:30 a.m. Friday when there were about 106,000 without power,
including 102,000 Eversource customers.
“There’s storm damage pretty much everywhere along with dozens and dozens of blocked roads and instances of trees taking down lines across the state,” Eversource spokesperson Mitch Gross said. “The restoration work will take time. Customers should understand this will all take time and will not be a quick fix.”
United Illuminating outages had reached more than 4,000 early Friday morning, but dropped below 1,000 by midday.
Trees were down and in some cases landed on homes throughout the state as the wind reached gusts of 45 to 55 mph.
Kelly White had just fallen back asleep at 5:45 a.m. Friday when a huge crash shook her house on White Street in Manchester.
“The dog came off the bed a foot,” White said.
No one was hurt, but the 100-foot Oak tree in her backyard smashed the rear part of the roof, causing leaks in the kitchen ceiling. White said she called her insurance adjuster, and her brother was going to put up a tarp in the meantime.
Dozens of local and state roads were closed due to downed trees and power lines. The winds also caused a garage to collapse in Wolcott and damage to an athletic building at Cheshire Academy.