Officials: Storm’s impact on state could be lasting
A major storm forecast to hit the state Tuesday night was expected to continue into Wednesday morning, officials said, with the possibility of flooding and power outages from saturated ground and damaging winds.
The National Weather Service on Tuesday had issued a high wind warning for the shoreline and a flood watch for the entire state, and said the storm could include wind gusts up to 65 mph in some places.
Eversource, the state’s largest electricity provider, said it had more than 1,000 line and tree crews prepared to respond.
Jamie Ratliff, an Eversource spokesperson, said, “This will be a level 4 ERP (Emergency Response Plan). That means the potential for more than 125,000 customers without power which could be a multi-day restoration.”
The weather service had predicted inland areas of southern Connecticut could wind up with 3 inches or more of rain by the time the storm ends Wednesday. But a swath of lower Connecticut could see 4 or more inches of rain, along with parts of New York and New Jersey, the weather service said.
And while the heaviest rainfall was expected to end around 5 a.m. Wednesday, “significant flood impacts likely” could continue through Thursday morning, the weather service said.
The heavy rain was expected initially to combine with melting snow from the weekend storm, adding to the runoff into saturated ground and streams already running high, increasing the risk of flooding, the weather service said.
“Excessive runoff may result in flooding of rivers, creeks, streams and other low-lying and flood-prone locations,” the weather service bulletin had warned. “Creeks and streams may rise out of their banks. Extensive street flooding and flooding of creeks and rivers are possible.”
A coastal flood advisory had been issued for lower Fairfield and New Haven counties, while a coastal flood warning had been issued for southern Middlesex and New London counties.
Along the coast, winds of 30 to 40 mph were expected, gusting up to 60 mph. The weather service said “isolated gusts” of up to 65 mph were possible in the southeast part of the state.
The weather service said the strongest winds likely would calm by 5 a.m. Wednesday, but could leave behind significant damage.
“Numerous tree limbs will likely be downed, as well as scattered trees and power lines. Scattered power outages are likely. Poorly secured outdoor objects will be damaged or blown away,” the weather service said.
Steve Sullivan, president of Eversource’s Connecticut electric operations, had said earlier this week that the utility was expecting “torrential” downpours across the entire state, in combination with the heavy sustained winds. “And then on top of that are the gusts,” he added.
“That combination of high sustained winds and very powerful gusts for a long duration — this is forecast to last well into the day on Wednesday — that in combination with the ground just being absolutely saturated from all that rain with all of the snow melt, that is highly likely to bring entire trees and if not entire trees, partial trees down on our system,” Sullivan said.