Community Corner

Deep Freeze Knocks Out Power To Parts of City

Middletown and Durham remain hardest hit by outages

2:21 p.m. UPDATE:

The latest outage report from Connecticut Light and Power: Middletown, 833 customers (3 percent of the total served by the utility); Durham, 247 customers (8 percent of the total); Middlefield, 89 customers (4 percent of the total); Portland, 41 customers (0.9 percent); and Haddam, seven customers (0.18 percent)

10:39 A.M. UPDATE:

Find out what's happening in Middletownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Connecticut Light & Power reports the following:

Line crews are working diligently and around the clock to restore power to customers.

Find out what's happening in Middletownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

People should use utmost caution out of doors. Ice is still coating many wires and tree branches, causing limbs to fall on electrical wires. Already, a number of additional fires and outages have occurred in the region.

Residents are reminded to report all downed wires or fires immediately, by calling 9-1-1.  Assume that all wires are live and stay clear. Do not try to drive around the wires, or over them. Contact of any type with a live wire results in electrocution.

If a wire falls on your vehicle, stay inside and wait for emergency crews. Even if you do not have a cell phone and cannot call for help, it is safe to assume that someone will come by shortly and call in for you.

Finally, if you are in an area still dealing with a power outage, please be patient. Crews are restoring power as quickly as possible. They are now estimating to have power fully restored by midnight tonight.

-- Posted by Mel Tavares

7:40 A.M. UPDATE:

Connecticut Light and Power Co. reports that, as of 7:45 a.m., Durham was the most heavily affected by the power outage, with 40 percent of customers -- 1,242 of 3,062 households -- still without power. In Middletown, 314 customers were still without power (about 1 percent), while in Middlefield, Haddam and Killingworth, the proportions of customers without power were 4 percent, 1 percent and about 0.5 percent, respectively. Portland and East Hampton outages were reported at 3 percent and 0.02 percent, respectively.

A spokeswoman for the American Red Cross said an emergency shelter opened last night at Middletown High School, 200 LaRosa La., was closed at 7 a.m.

For more information, call the American Red Cross in Middletown at (860) 250-5555.

Here the forecast from the National Weather Service:

Today: A chance of rain, mainly before 11am. Cloudy, with a high near 38. North wind around 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Tonight: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 17. North wind between 6 and 8 mph. 

Thursday: Increasing clouds, with a high near 28. Northwest wind between 7 and 10 mph. 

Thursday Night: Snow, mainly after 10pm. Low around 15. Light north wind. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible. 

Friday: Snow, mainly before 3pm. High near 27. North wind between 6 and 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%.

Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 11. 

Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 22. 

1:30 A.M. UPDATE:

CL&P crews are still working to restore power to parts of Middletown. As of 1:30 a.m., 1,519 customers are still in the dark, and the city has opened an emergency shelter at Middletown High School, according to Mayor Sebastian Giuliano.

In Durham, 1,723 of CL&P's 3,062 customers (56 percent) remain without power. 10 percent (459) of Portland residents and 7 percent (2,119) of Meriden residents also remain without power.

6:30 P.M. UPDATE:

Connecticut Light and Power is reporting that 9 percent (2,120) of its customers in Middletown are without power because of the ice storm as of 6:30 p.m.

Power appears to be out along most of Main Street, including the traffic light at the busy intersection with Washington Street. Outages are also plaguing other parts of town, including Westfield.

ORIGINAL STORY:

It's a mess out there.

City public works crews have been out scraping and sanding roads since 4 a.m., according to Director Bill Russo, who said leaving a thin layer of snow on the local roads has helped to provide traction and keep the rain from turning into that notoriously treacherous "black ice."

Catchbasins in flood-prone areas, most notably Nejako Drive, have been cleared to allow the soupy mix to drain into the storm sewers, he said.

Russo expects the conditions to be manageable as temperatures rise near 40 later this morning, turning the freezing rain into just rain.

Beyond Middletown, the freezing rain reduced the commute to a crawl. I-84 was especially hard hit, with a tractor-trailer accident eastbound in East Hartford and another accident westbound in Southington.

As of 8:30 a.m., the DOT was also reporting car accidents on eastbound I-84 in Plainville and westbound the portion of the highway in Hartford. Westbound traffic on the Hartford portion of I-84 is reported to be at a crawl due to congestion and is likely continue that way until 11 a.m., according to the DOT.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is advising commuters to take it slow. That'll be good advice for tonight and on into the morning rush hour on Wednesday as the National Weather Service is predicting more rain or freezing rain until 10 a.m. 

The governor is also warning of possible power outages from the accumulated snow and ice.

Following a conference call earlier this morning, the governor ordered a partial activation of the State Emergency Operations Center to monitor power outages and road conditions throughout Connecticut.

 “I am urging everyone to take it slow on the roads, and if you don’t have to go out, please consider staying home until the plows have a chance to get through our roads following the morning commute,” he said in a prepared statement. 

His office also reminds Connecticut residents to clear off flat surfaces -- such as roofs -- to avoid leaks or structural problems from the weight.

The weather service says the precipitation will continue as rain or freezing rain between noon and 3 p.m. today, turning to rain later. Expect a little more rain tonight and a slight chance of freezing rain before 10 a.m. Wednesday.


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