The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
‘We’re claiming it’s a tornado’
Violent storm crushes family’s car; neighbor believes it was a twister
DURHAM — When a massive maple tree came crashing down Tuesday evening as a mighty thunderstorm ripped through town, Paul Van Steenbergen of Parmelee Hill Road was one of the first people who ran outside to find it had crushed his neighbor’s Subaru.
Van Steenbergen Wednesday afternoon wielded a chainsaw next door in the driveway of Steven Willets’ home, where Willets’ wife’s black sedan sat destroyed. Nearby, a pillar holding up the porch bowed precariously and a portion of the roof had caved in.
Fortunately, neither Willets was home at the time: Steven Willets was driving home from work in South Windsor, while his wife was carpooling with a friend on their way to a convention.
“Emergency operation center road crews have been working through the night.” Durham First Selectman Laura Francis
“The insurance company was like, ‘We’ll tow the car after you get the tree off it. The tree’s not our problem,’ ” Willets said, picking up brush and branches and piling them at the curb. Near him, an uncharged utility wire ran along the side of the street.
Willets told his wife to stay at her parents’ home for the night. “She didn’t see it until today and she was in tears.”
South Windsor wasn’t hit anywhere near as badly as Durham, he said. “There was hail there and the sky looked really weird. It was green/gray.”
“The storm came through. They said it was going to hit at 5:30 — and that’s what time it hit,” said Van Steenbergen, known around town as “Mr. Paul.”
“We were sitting there and it started to drizzle. Then I went to round up the chickens because they were out meandering around. There was this big crash.”
Van Steenbergen’s son yelled to his dad when he heard the smash.
“It was a good loud one. You know, crunchy, crackly loud,” he said, explaining how he ran outside and saw a giant branch hanging hard on a live power line outside his house, 8 feet off the ground.
“We’re claiming it’s a tornado. It came through there,” Van Steenbergen said, pointing to a large splintered tree at the far rear end of Willet’s property.
“Those trees broke that shouldn’t have broke,” he said, gesturing to a path from that damage. There, a tornado could have moved and hit the tree in the Willets’ front yard, Van Steenbergen said.
Officials are working to restore power to the 23 percent of homes still without electricity in the wake of a severe storm that barreled through parts of the state Tuesday evening.
The town, among the hardest hit in the state, is being visited by a team from the National Weather Service, whose members will survey parts of Connecticut, including Hamden, Bethany and Cheshire, the agency said in an online post. Results are expected by 8 p.m.
NWS meteorologist Ross Dickman said crews were aiming to determine what sort of weather event produced damage in the area by looking for evidence of a tornado or straight-line winds. He mentioned a tornado or microburst as possibilities.
“Hopefully today, we get some answers for people that’d like to know,” Dickman said.
At the highpoint of the storm, more than 1,000 homes were without power in Durham, according to First Selectman Laura Francis.
“Emergency operation center road crews have been working through the night. They leave at 3:30 (p.m.), so we had to call them back in around 5:30 (Monday night), and they’ve been working ever since,” she said. “It’s really all over. I can’t say it was surgical in one part of town.”
By 5 p.m., 752 households were without electricity, according to Eversource, which services 1.27 million customers in Connecticut. In all, 78,152 — 6 percent — were still in the dark.
The fire department responded to a few calls for downed wires, Francis said, but there were no injuries as a result of the thunderstorm.
“I’ve seen a lot of posts with pictures of trees down in yards,” and there is a large one behind Town Hall blocking the cemetery, she added.
Seven roads remained cordoned off Wednesday, with most of the damage confined to the southern portion of town, although power was knocked out to a few areas in north Durham, including Coginchaug Regional High School, the first selectman said. Classes were canceled Wednesday.
Eversource restoration crews are in town working on 19 different storm-related issues, Francis said, and some of the remediation will require tree crews.
As part of her 1 p.m. Safer Durham email alert, Francis said access to Canterbury Drive, off Route 17, going toward Northford, is completely obstructed, as is Little Lane, about 4 miles away, near Lino’s Market.
While multiple streets were closed early Wednesday, by evening Creamery Road by Cedar Drive was still blocked, while all other roads are passable.
Although there has been talk around town about a microburst, Francis said she’s been combing social media and checking her voicemail, but was unaware of any hitting Durham.
“I heard there was possibly one on the Guilford/ Durham line, but have no confirmation,” she said.
In Middletown, Mayor Dan Drew opened the city’s emergency operations center Tuesday evening in anticipation of the storm.
“Here in the EOC,” he posted on his Facebook page around 6 p.m. “With me are my chief of staff, MPD command staff, MFD and SFD chiefs, the director of central communications and deputy director of public works. We now have a full complement of firefighters.
“We are monitoring weather and reports from 911 calls and are pleasantly surprised that, thus far, reports of problems are limited. There is another cell behind this one, but it looks weaker on the radar than the one we just went through. This is promising news, but we continue to monitor,” Drew said.
Within an hour, he closed the center.
“The state had a high of about 120,000 outages last night,” Gov. Dannel P. Malloy tweeted Wednesday afternoon. “Those who are still without electricity should plan for long-term outages.”
Meanwhile, the Connecticut Department of Public Health is warning residents of the dangers of carbon monoxide, asking they take steps to prevent deadly poisoning, including properly using generators. These temporary power systems should be placed at least 20 feet from the house and never inside the house, enclosed porch or attached garage, according to a news release.
DPH has posted an informational video about CO on YouTube at CTDPH Carbon Monoxide. For information on CO risks, visit the DPH website at portal.ct.gov.
In Durham, residents are asked to call 911 for emergencies and Eversource at 800-286-2000 about power outages; and for non-emergencies, to call 860-3436735.
During an afternoon news conference in Brookfield, Malloy said due to the extensive damage caused by the storm, power won’t likely be restored to some locations for days. Malloy surveyed damage Wednesday in several towns including Brookfield, where about 85 percent of the nearly 8,400 homes and businesses were still without power.
Malloy also announced that the Connecticut Insurance Department has activated its emergency adjuster program that allows insurance companies to quickly register their outof-state adjusters and bring them into the state to help with claims of property and auto damage.
“We want to make sure that homeowners get help as quickly as possible from their insurance companies,” Insurance Commissioner Katharine Wade said in a release. “By activating this program, insurance companies are able to quickly get more help on the ground where it’s most needed.”
Residents and businesses with insurance questions and concerns related to property damage can contact the Connecticut Insurance Department at insurance@ct.gov.