Sandy@Madison, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012: Halloween On Hold? Decision At 9am Wednesday.

This story will be updated throughout the day as we get more information.

As of 11 p.m., CL&P is reporting that 91 percent of Madison customers are still without power, or about 8,258 of 9,056 customers.

From Metro-North: "Metro-North Service remains suspended due to significant damage on the Hudson, Harlem and New Haven lines from Hurricane Sandy.  Repairs are currently underway to tracks, power and signal systems.  See www.mta.info for full details."

People in Madison had many things on their minds Tuesday, following Superstorm Sandy, and tops among them was ... Halloween. The kids are wondering and their parents are too. Here's what we have by way of information on that and we'll post the decision as soon as we find out more:

From Madison 911 Emergency Communication Center:

"Still trying to get an answer regarding trick-or-treating tomorrow night. I would imagine that festivities will have to be postponed due to the number of trees and wires still down on the ground. There is an emergency management meeting at 9am and they will make a decision then."

Here are some comments on that topic from Facebook:

Debra Malicki Longyear Dear First Selectman,I realize there are many other important decisions going on right now following the storm and its damage, but a decision has to be made about Halloween. While I know it is not safe at this time to have Trick or Treaters out there, we will end up seeing them if its not postponed. Why not postpone to the 7th like other towns? Time is running out. Halloween is tomorrow! The little ones are looking for an answer!

• Tonya Kershner Any word on Halloween?
• Laureen Olivia Pompilli Many towns have postponed Halloween until 11/7. How about Madison?
• Diane Dell Stone 11/7 should be the day!! Keep the night safe!

• Barry Nuzzo Probably be safer when all the power is restored.
• Debra Malicki Longyear Maybe have a trunk or treat for the kids on the green or town campus. Where the kids could circle the green and go to each car for candy since most streets are too bad or dangerous?
• Patricia Izant Panico Neighborhoods should decide. Ours is in good shape so i would welcome the little goblins. Maybe we do it at dusk and for only an hour. A short version. Kids just go to a few houses near their own if it is safe.....Bartlett drive
• Lesley Bartolomei Young I think the town should make a decision for everyone12 hours ago via mobile
• Denise Tragianese Harvey I like the idea of the "trick or trunk" in a town lot!!!
• Liz Peterson trunk or treat would be great.
• Lynda Zito-Enright Trunk or treat is a really fun way to let kids have safe fun....a great community event!
• Kimberly McDermott Esty If our power is still out tomorrow night (which is likely) I will not be eager to open my door to anyone who knocks on it. Trick or trunk is perfect - or postpone until Friday!
• Janet Nicolini As much as you might want to, you can't logistically do it by neighborhood and ensure everyones safety..it has to be a town decision.
• Susan Gottshalk Lutz Way too many cars for a trunk or treat.
• Mairead Kinnare O'Brien Town green has a huge tree down over wires blocking the road1
• Joan Lally McShane oakwood drive is good. all underground lines so safe. all houses have power.1
• Cathleen Creaser Marsh We do mot have power. I just wonder if there are parts of trees hanging. Will the Homecoming Dance go on??? No power, no treaters....
• Rebecca Konstantino Town decision-postpone it. It's still not safe out there..esp at night.
• Laura Miller Schools are cancelled for tomorrow, trick-o-treating could happen earlier in the day. Just an idea. Our neighborhood is also in good shape, with power, so I don't see why we can't keep Halloween as planned??
• KP Walton Pem, anyone from the town contact you about their decision? Our neighborhood committee is talking about postponing to the weekend.
• Lesley Bartolomei Young Are the 14% who currently have power inviting the 86% who don't have power to their neighborhoods for trick or treating? Why not reschedule as a town for Saturday night? Isn't this a safety issue?
• Rylin White My kids have school tomorrow...all Meriden public schools are opened according to my message from "dr benigni" there were a lot more people without power last year and we still did Halloween on Halloween.
• Debra Malicki Longyear I posted about the trunk or treat earlier before I was out and about and was able to see the damage. I now believe Trick or treat should be postponed until the 7th. Too many trees and power lines down. Just not safe for the kids right now.

We're No. 4!!!!!

This was reported by Madison911 last night and by us earlier today, but now it's really official, Madison was No. 1 in Connecticut for the highest wind gusts, and No. 4 on the Eastern Seaboard.

Congratulations?

The Stats Are In: Superstorm Sandy Totals from Accuweather.

HIGHEST WIND GUSTS BY STATE (>74 mph):
Eatons Neck, N.Y.: 94 mph
Montclair, N.J.: 88 mph
Westerly, R.I.: 86 mph
Madison, Conn.: 85 mph
Cuttyhunk, Mass.: 83 mph
Allentown, Pa.: 81 mph
Highland Beach, Md.: 79 mph
Chester Gap, Va.: 79 mph

RJJ Opening Wednesday!

From RJ Julia Booksellers: "R.J. Julia's will be open from 11 to 3pm on Wed., Oct. 31. If you need to stretch your legs, chat with friends, or give your little one an excuse to dress up come one by. Coloring activities, a story time or two, and smiley face stickers to anyone in costume."

Cumby's Too?

We received a report form a reliable source that the lights were on at Cumby's late Tuesday night and cars were in the parking lot. We don't know if they have gas, but it looked like they were open for business. We were not able to confirm this with the store, but we're hoping it's true.

6:00pm

From Connecticut Water Co.

Connecticut Water Company, headquartered in Clinton, has established a number of local self-service water filling stations. 

They have or will have shortly tankers on site for the public to access for free potable water: 

• North Madison Fire Department - Route 79 and 80 traffic circle
• North Guilford Fire Department - Route 77 north of Route 80
• Killingworth Circle (intersection of Route 80 and 81)
• Marlborough Elementary School, School Drive, Marlborough

Also they have hydrant fill stations available at:

• CT Water Co. Clinton Office, 93 West Main Street, Clinton
• South Guilford Fire Department, 390 Church Street
• Essex Fire Department, Saybrook Road, Essex
• Old Saybrook High School, Route 1 Old Saybrook
• Chester Meetinghouse, center of town by green
• RHAM (regional high school for Hebron, Andover, Marlborough) – 85 Wall Street, Hebron

The filling stations are self-service. People need to bring their own containers. They encourage folks to use only clean, safe containers for water that will be used for drinking, food preparation, brushing teeth, etc.  Any container is fine if the water is to be used for filling toilets or other purposes where it will not be consumed.

Connecticut Water is in the process of setting up water filling stations for families that don't have water service. They plan to have the water filling stations available until power is restored in these communities.

5:00pm

From Madison911 Emergency Communications Center:

-Travel Ban is no longer in effect. Except streets south of Route 1 are open ONLY to residents. You will most likely have to show ID to gain access.
-Water is availible at Town Campus and North Madison Fire House.
-Gas stations are open in the center of town and at the North Madison traffic circle.
-There is a charging station at town hall and the police departm
ent.
-Schools are closed thru Wednesday.
-The dump is open for brush and stumps.
-Please treat all inoperable traffic lights as a STOP sign!!!
-Please do not go site-seeing at the shore; there are still many hazards.
-Power outages in town have gone from 88% down to 83% in the last hour. If you are using a generator, please make sure your "main" circuit breaker is turned OFF so that power does not backfeed into the street. If your home/business has an alarm system, please disable the alarm until power is restored.
-Grocery stores: Stop and Shop and Roberts are both open.

We hope everyone continues to stay safe. Your Madison 911 Dispatchers appreciate your patience during this hectic situation.

3:37pm

Hello.  This is your First Selectman Fillmore McPherson with the latest Hurricane Sandy update as of midday Tuesday.  Although we are in a post-storm mode, there will still be problems of high water during high tides until Long Island Sound empties a little.

Currently, we are not aware of any part of town that is completely isolated by downed trees or wires.  There are some areas that will still be cut off during high tides.

Please note: the roads along the water south of the Boston Post Road are still closed until 3pm.  We are trying to work there.  Do not drive around the traffic cones just to go sightseeing.  Roads in the rest of the Town are open.

87% of the Town is without power.  We are working with CL&P to clear trees and they can then restore the power.  The priority for them will be to restore the trunk lines so they can they start on the individual neighborhoods.  Even though the sun is now shining, it may still take a while.  If you are without power, make sure that you have called CL&P at 1-800-286-2000 to report your outage.  That’s 1-800-286-2000.  Every household should call, not just one person per neighborhood.

Let me repeat some electric safety tips:

1. don’t touch any downed wires;
2. If you have a gas generator, make sure that the switch is set to not allow any backfeed;
3. Also make sure that the exhaust is well away from the house.

Power is on at the North Madison traffic circle, and Roberts Food Center is open.  Gasoline is available at the Sunoco station downtown.

If your well is not operating and you need water, it is available at the North Madison Fire House, the Madison Hose Fire House, and at Town Campus.  Please bring your own containers.

You can recharge your cell phones and laptops here at Town Campus, conference room A.

That’s it for now.  Please stay safe.

12:17pm

Hello.  This is your First Selectman Fillmore McPherson with the latest Hurricane Sandy update as of midday Tuesday.  Although we are in a post-storm mode, there will still be problems of high water during high tides until Long Island Sound empties a little.

Currently, we are not aware of any part of town that is completely isolated by downed trees or wires.  There are some areas that will still be cut off during high tides. 

Please note: the roads along the water south of the Boston Post Road are still closed until 3pm.  We are trying to work there.  Do not drive around the traffic cones just to go sightseeing.  Roads in the rest of the Town are open.

87% of the Town is without power.  We are working with CL&P to clear trees and they can then restore the power.  The priority for them will be to restore the trunk lines so they can they start on the individual neighborhoods.  Even though the sun is now shining, it may still take a while.  If you are without power, make sure that you have called CL&P at 1-800-286-2000 to report your outage.  That’s 1-800-286-2000.  Every household should call, not just one person per neighborhood. 

Let me repeat some electric safety tips: 1. don’t touch any downed wires; 2. If you have a gas generator, make sure that the switch is set to not allow any backfeed; 3. Also make sure that the exhaust is well away from the house.

Power is on at the North Madison traffic circle, and Roberts Food Center is open.  Gasoline is available at the Sunoco station downtown.

If your well is not operating and you need water, it is available at the North Madison Fire House, the Madison Hose Fire House, and at Town Campus.  Please bring your own containers.

You can recharge your cell phones and laptops here at Town Campus, conference room A.

That’s it for now.  Please stay safe.

10:51am

From Madison Emergency Management Director John Bowers:

Local travel ban has been lifted for all roads in town except those south of Rt 1; Town Hall is open for Power only right now, No TV, No internet.  Roberts Food Center open for food and water, NOMAD Fire has water tanker; hoses available at Town Hall for Potable water (bring your own containers); Sunoco downtown and NOMAD Gas Station open with gas.  Will send updates as we are able; poster coming out soon.

From your Madison Patch editor:

Yes, roads are open and it's OK to go out. Please proceed carefully, use caution, do not drive over downed wires, do not drive through standing water. We'd love to have pictures and videos, but only if you can get them safely and without endangering (or angering) anyone. After Tropical Storm Irene, the process of clean-up was long and frustrating. We saw tempers flaring and people being unkind, to say the least. We've been through this before, we'll get through it again, let's try to be kind to one another in the meantime.  

Thank you, thank you, thank you to our town's volunteer firefighters, police officers, town officials, volunteers, and to the line crews who worked through the night in extremely dangerous conditions--including a wind gust up to 85mph--to keep us and our neighbors safe. Your work is truly appreciated. And thanks to those who heeded the mandatory evacuation order, thereby making their job a little easier.

From Jennifer Adams Doraz on Facebook: "Bishops is open and fully provisioned."

From email from gbwatts: "Hi Pem, big tree down across Summer Hill Rd at Heatherwood Dr intersection. Took all the wires down with it and completely blocking the road. Hope the town knows by now but no cones or safety equipment in place yet to warn people. Looks like power will be out for a while :("

10:44am

Mairead Kinnare O'Brien reports on Facebook: "Town green has a huge tree down over wires blocking the road."

Some businesses are opening, little by little.

Madison Emergency Management Director John Bowers said Tuesday morning that if you are in safe place, stay there. If you have evacuated, do not come back yet, it is not yet safe. There are too many trees and wires down and our emergency responders, volunteer firefighters and others are working to clear it.

The exception is  this: If you live in a mandatory evacuation area and have not left, leave now before high today again at 11:45 a.m.

"They can leave," Bowers said of people in the mandatory evacuation zones, which include all areas south of the Boston Post Road and other low lying areas. People who are in mandatory evacuation zones received notification from the town Sunday. "They can leave. They can tell the nice police officers on the way out that they are finally doing the right thing." 

Some AAA Offices Open for DMV Services TODAY, Tuesday, October 30

WETHERSFIELD – Department of Motor Vehicles announced that some AAA offices are open to provide DMV services TODAY, Tuesday, October 30.  The AAA offices closed at this time are located in Avon, Branford, Old Saybrook, Waterford and Westport.

The AAA offices open are located in Cromwell, Danbury, Enfield, Hamden, Manchester, Milford, Plainville, Stamford, Waterbury and West Hartford.

AAA offices provide renewals and duplicates for driver licenses and state-issued ID cards.  For more information on AAA and DMV office locations please visit http://ct.gov/dmv/offices

10:07am

High wind advisory statewide. Winds may gust as high as 40mph. Another high tide in Madison at 11:45 a.m.

From Robin McShane: "Madison Racquet & Swim Club will be closed Today, Tuesday October 30th.  We will update via Patch and Facebook regarding Wednesday.:

9:57am

From Madison911: "Madison set the HIGH-SPEED WIND RECORD for the state: 85mph wind gust around 4:30pm yesterday."

Here are some of the calls Madison 911 has received in the past hour. I don't have any more information about them right now. But our emergency responders are busy and will be busy all day. Please do not do anything to add to their work. Please don't return to mandatory evacuation areas and if you live in a mandatory evacuation area and haven't left, leave before high tide at 11:45 a.m. Highways are open, but we have not received word that the driving ban in Madison has been lifted.

• HAZARDOUS MATERIALS INCIDENT 00157E OVERSHORES DR X-STR: - NECK RD/OVERSHORE DR WEST Premise: 157 OVERSHORES DR EAST
• AUTOMATIC FIRE ALARM 00725 BOSTON POST RD X-STR: - DURHAM RD/WALL ST Premise: CAFE ALLEGRE
• WIRES DOWN 00141 RIDGE RD X-STR: - Beaver Pond Rd/Green Hill Rd Premise: 141 RIDGE RD

9:53am

For you shoreline and NYC commuters:

"Metro-North Railroad service is suspended at this time due to the effects of Hurricane Sandy.  We will provide additional information as it becomes available."

Amtrak Northeast ‏@AmtrakNEC "We are assessing damage from #HurricaneSandy & making repairs. Decision on limited #Amtrak service restoration will be made this afternoon."

From @nytimes on Twitter: MTA: After the worst storm in its 108-year history, no timetable for restoring subway service http://nyti.ms/SrqlVc

9:10am

From Parker Avenue resident:
It is a mess here, but not as bad as Irene. New sea wall really did the job. Walked along Middle Beach West beach, some damage. But not terrible.

Barry Nuzzo from Facebook: "Survived with a couple trees down in the yard. No major damage. Nuzzos Pizza will be open today. We have a generator. We will be serving pizza all day!!"

Town officials have not yet made an announcement that roads are open.

9:04am

From CL&P press conference Tuesday morning:

CL&P said they could not give an estimate for full restoration of power, but that they have crews out and working on it.

CL&P has 400 of its own line workers in the field, in addition to 1,080 line workers from outside the state. They also have in excess of 600 tree workers, and in excess of 500 service electricians and hundreds of damage assessors. During Irene, at this point, CL&P had only 300 foreign workers. The company flew in workers from the west coast early one, when they knew the storm was coming.

It will be a multiple day outage for some customers.  The worst damage appears to be from Greenwich to Fairfield, and from Branford to the Rhode Island border.

“We made an early assessment of what we needed to deal with. We made an early request for resources. One thing we did is reach out quickly to the west coast [for workers]. We are talking about multiple days of travel. We were very prepared for this.”

Eleven lines are out in high voltage transmission system. “We will be conducing aerial patrols later. We hope to have a damage assessment” soon. The good news is that two critical CL&P substations, in Stamford and Branford were not jeopardized. 

“With respect to customer outages, the peak occurred at a half million customers. The hardest hit areas were southwest Connecticut and southeastern Connecticut … we are establishing a senior leadership team to help restore power along the southeastern coast.”

Overnight, CL&P dealt with emergency 911 situations and worked in partnership with municipalities on road clearing.  “We will continue that throughout the day today.”

Since noon yesterday, power has been restored to 135,000 customers.

Today, CL&P will be working with towns, cities and departments of transportation to open roads. The company also will be assessing damage. Hundreds of service electricians will be deployed to help reattach service to homes where possible.

Also, staging areas and satellites will be established across the state where necessary.

“So far, our restoration efforts have been safe.  There have been no safety estimates and we are proud of that.”

8:38am

Gov. Malloy says I-95 and Merritt Parkway open as of Tuesday morning, but that "we will have high wind conditions throughout the day"

Hopes to have buses up and running "fairly quickly" maybe today or tomorrow.   

From 8:30 a.m. press conference:

• Gov. Malloy will spend the day traveling around the state assessing damage
• We've made clear to the utility companies that their job is to get that power back on as quickly as possible, and they understand that
• As of a few minutes ago, approximately 630,000 customers were without power
• We believe state employee should report to work tomorrow as scheduled, but we'll have more info later
• All local school systems across the state are closed
• We have lifted the travel ban on our state's highways
• We are doing our best this morning to get on the ground assessments in those impacted shoreline towns
• Despite our warnings, it became clear that potentially thousands of people who had not been evacuated were in harm's way
• It became clear to us early last evening that the worst case scenario we had been predicting for days might well occur was occurring
• We did our best to protect you & stand with you, & now it's our job to get ppl's lives back to normal as quickly as possible
• We took a big hit over the past few days, and we want to thank the people of #CT for hanging in there
• We also unfortunately had another fatality, & we grieve that loss as well. As of a few minutes ago two individuals were listed as missing
• Our first responders put their lives on the line, and when one of them loses their life, we all feel the pain
• A firefighter's life was lost yesterday, and our hearts go out to his family, friends, and fellow firefighters
• The storm is over, and we’re now in assessment, search, rescue, and recovery mode

8:29am

CL&P reporting of 9,056 customers in Madison, 7,940 people are out of power as of 8:30 a.m., or about 87 percent of the town.

Here are the numbers statewide from CL&P:

Total CL&P Customers Served:
1,240,246

Total CL&P Customers Reported Affected:
477,538

% of CL&P Customers Reported Affected:
38%

8:24am

From a Middle Beach Road resident via email:  I just heard from one of the firemen who said he drove by our house on Middle Beach.  All he said is "it looks ok, not as bad as last time."

Please do not go back yet and check, if you live in a mandatory evacuation area. There is another high tide today around 11:45 a.m. and there are many power lines and trees down around town.

8:18am

Sunoco open downtown. CVS has door open, but no lights. East Wharf Road is obstructed by a big branch.

Do not venture out unless your safety depends on it. If you are safe, stay where you are. If you have evacuated, do not return yet. If you live in a mandatory evacuation area and have not left, do so before high tide today at 11:45am.

8:12pm

Travel ban lifted.
Travel ban on highways lifted. Do not venture out if you are safe and do not return to areas under mandatory evacuation in Madison. There will be another high high tide today at 11:45 am.

Governor Dan Malloy ‏@GovMalloyOffice

Use your heads: If road appears impassable b/c of water, downed wires, fallen trees, other debris, do not attempt to drive through it

GOV. MALLOY LIFTS TRAVEL BAN EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY   (HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Dannel P. Malloy on Tuesday morning announced that he has lifted the travel bans that he ordered in the state yesterday, effective immediately.   On Monday, facing severe weather from Hurricane Sandy, Governor Malloy had ordered a truck ban, followed by the closure of the state’s limited access highways to non-emergency vehicles.
 
“Use your heads when it comes to driving.  If a road appears impassable because of water, downed wires, fallen trees or other debris, do not attempt to drive through it,” Governor Malloy said.
 
The Governor will have additional updated information at his 8:30 a.m. news briefing from the State Emergency Operations Center on Tuesday morning.

  ###   For Immediate Release: October 30, 2012

Twitter: @GovMalloyOffice Facebook: Office of Governor Dannel P. Malloy

7:57am

From Twitter:

@GovMalloyOffice Gov. Malloy is at a unified command meeting at the state EOC making latest decisions on storm response

Highways not yet open.

7:25am

Madison Emergency Management Director John Bowers said Tuesday morning that if you are in safe place, stay there. If you have evacuated, do not come back yet, it is not yet safe. There are too many trees and wires down and our emergency responders, volunteer firefighters and others are working to clear it.

The exception is  this: If you live in a mandatory evacuation area and have not left, leave now before high today again at 11:45 a.m.

"They can leave," Bowers said of people in the mandatory evacuation zones, which include all areas south of the Boston Post Road and other low lying areas. People who are in mandatory evacuation zones received notification from the town Sunday. "They can leave. They can tell the nice police officers on the way out that they are finally doing the right thing."  

7:16am

From a comment left on an earlier story:

Margaret Norton Campion

Hi, Fred,
I talked with my cousin, Rob Morrison, last night, (who is in the garage apartment across Ridgewood Ave. from the cute house with the blue shutters, just at the top of Circle Beach Rd.) and though the marsh was flooded, they were fine there on the Highlands. He hadn't walked down to Circle Beach yet, but my guess (from pics I've seen) is that the road was surely covered. I don't think the water level was higher than Irene, though, and my sense is that the waves were not as strong. (The wind was out of the north for much of the day which greatly lessens damage to the Circle Beach cottages.) I'll try to talk with Rob again today after he's had a chance to check out the beach and will try to get back here to post. I've been worried about all of those cottages, too. They got so badly hit in Irene. Man. Very tough.

7:08am

John Mathers at Madison Beach Hotel reports: "We're in pretty good shape down here. We lost power, but our emergency generator kicked in. It kept our water treatment plant running all night. That was the most important thing. We saw some pretty good storm surges. The hotel was pretty much an island. We walked around at 6 a.m., and surveyed the damage. Other than sand and debris floating around, the hotel looks like it is in pretty good shape. We are not open today. We are expecting another storm surge at high tide."

7:01am

STATE POLICE INVESTIGATE STORM RELATED DEATH 

On 10/29/12 shortly after 6:30 p.m. Connecticut State Police Troop C was notified via 911 that a tree had fallen onto three people near their home on a residential street located on West Highland Rd in Mansfield Ct. Troopers, The Mansfield Resident State Trooper, EMS personnel and Fire Service personnel all responded to the scene.

Upon arrival it was learned that 3 people were attempting to go to a neighbor’s home and as the three people were going to the neighbor’s home a large tree fell on them. The tree was had a power line intertwined around it and one person was fatally injured in this incident. The other two other people suffered what was described as serious injury. One person as pronounced dead at the scene.

The two injured were transported by ambulance to Windham Hospital for treatment. The power company and a tree service responded to the scene to extricate the deceased from the tree and power line. The office of the Chief States Medical Examiner will conduct a post mortem examination of the deceased to determine the manner and cause of death.

The deceased is identified as OLGA RAYMOND  DOB: 3/13/22 West Highland Rd Mansfield, CT.

6:30am

From Madison 911 via Facebook:

We're over the "high-tide hump" but the danger is far from over. Please remain inside your homes. We've had reports of folks trying to be helpful and removing trees/debris from the road, but this is a very bad idea. It's dark out and there are numerous power lines down; some may still be energized.

Editor's Note: Please do not go out yet, do not return to your homes if you have evacuated. As soon as I get the all clear that it is safe to go back, I will go back and get as much information as I can on condition of homes, our town, and most important, our neighbors. Please do not add to the burden of our emergency officials by going out, or returning to your homes, before it is safe.

High tide is 11:45am in Madison today.