Schools

46 Still Without Power As Of Friday Morning; CL&P Says Madison Among Towns Hardest Hit In State

Some customers in Madison being given restoration estimates of Saturday. High winds, driving rain create problems all over town, and throughout the state. And, after the storm on Thursday morning, there was a double rainbow.

 

Update 6:00 .m. Friday

Forty six Madison customers of CL&P are still without power. Statewide, there are about 4,204.

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

Wind speeds during the storm Wednesday night and Thursday exceeded 70 miles per hour along the shoreline, according to the Connecticut Post:

The strongest wind gust recorded at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford was 61 mph. At Oxford airport, the wind was clocked at 49 mph and 45 mph at Danbury airport. Meteorologist Gil Simmons of WTNH said a record wind gust of 78 mph was reported in Westbrook along the Connecticut coastline.

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

CL&P said on its Facebook page Thursday that there were more than 70,000 customers without power at one point after the storm, and reminded everyone to always call when your power is out, even if someone else in your neighborhood has called:

Hundreds of line and tree workers are hard at work across the state responding first to emergency 9-1-1 calls and restoring power. If you are without power, please make sure you've reported your outage by calling 800-286-2000 or at www.cl-p.com (available on a mobile device too). Once crews have determined how long repairs will take, restoration estimates will be available online and at the same phone number. To check how many customers in your town are without power, text "outage" and your zip code to 24612.

Update 9:30 p.m.

Some Madison residents who have been without power since Thursday morning are being given restoration estimates of Saturday, according to Madison Patch readers on Facebook.

Helene Keane-Cardilicchia has been without power since 4 a.m. Thursday and said Thursday night that there was still a tree down on Green Hill Road between Allison Drive and Nortontown, and that downed wires were still on the ground. 

As of 9:30 p.m., there were still 257 still without power in Madison, or about two percent of customers served in town. Statewide, there were about 11,287 customers without power, or less than one percent of customers served by CL&P.

 

Update 6 p.m.

There are still more than 300 people without power in Madison, CL&P reports, or about 4 percent of customers served. Statewide, there are more than 21,000 customers still without power, or about 1 percent of CL&P's customers statewide.

Christy Phillips Lyon was among those still out of power at 6 p.m. on Granby Drive off of Summer Hill Road, in North Madison. She says her street "went out at 8:30 this morning and is still out." Waterbury Avenue was still without power as of 4 p.m., and Harkness Drive in North Madison was without power as of 6 p.m, and had been since 7:30 a.m.

Molly Lynch Fahey said that as of 6 p.m., no estimate had not been given for her neighborhood at Granby Drive and Harkness. "Not a good sign," she said.

Al Lara, a spokesman for CL&P said Thursday night that estimates are just starting to be developed for parts of Madison, Clinton, and Killingworth, which were among the towns hit hardest by the storm overnight Wednesday and Thursday during the day.

"Madison, Clinton, and Killingworth ... experienced some of the strongest winds and worst damage. There was much more extensive damage than we’ve seen elsewhere. But we have started giving people restoration estimates. We’re calling customers and customer should start calling us to see if those estimates are available," he said.

Lara said winds along the shoreline gusted up to 73 and 78 miles per hour.  “I think there was one 78 mile per hour gust in Madison, one of the highest in the state if not the highest," he said. "So it’s just a matter of getting to that extensive damage.  The gusts we have today were as strong as the gusts over night. So as soon as we were restoring power, new outages were occurring."

Lara reminded CL&P customers experiencing outages to make sure they call and report it, if they have not already. The best number is 800-286-2000.

The wind advisory from the National Weather Service is supposed to expire at 6 p.m., so let's hope that means it'll die down soon and the line workers can finish up without having new jobs to tackle.

The weekend weather looks like partly sunny, partly snowy. See the bottom of this story for additional details on that.

Update at 12:20 p.m.

From Lesley via Twitter: Stop lights at Route 79 near entrance to to I-95 are not working, near the ambulance garage. "People are not obeying the four way stop." Please remember there is a mandatory four way stop when stop lights are not working. Please be careful and remember the person coming in the other direction might not heed that rule, and blow through the light!!

Hayley, reporting in on Facebook, said the continued high winds are making the problem worse by blowing down the stop signs posted there: "Just passed through there. All the stop signs were blown over, perhaps that's why nobody's abiding the 4-way stop."

Denise reported about a a half-hour later that the signs were back up ... and that some people were still blowing through the intersection without honoring the four-way stop.

Original story:

Madison Public School officials decided to anounce a 90-minute delay Thursday morning after learning that some school bus drivers were having trouble getting into work due to trees down, following high wind gusts throughout the region Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

The high winds caused problems throughout the state, including more than 61,000 power outages for customers of CL&P. More than 1,083 were still without power in Madison as of 10:30 a.m., or about 11 percent of more than 9,000 customers served by CL&P in town. That number crept up to 1,087 around noon, making it 12 percent for Madison. Clinton Public Schools were closed after some schools experienced power outages.

Madison Patch reader Laura Hartmann, on Facebook, encouraged people along Neck Road to do what they can to let the line workers--including CL&P, Comcast and AT&T--do their jobs.

"Hello everyone! I was just out walking the dog off of Neck Road. The roads are very narrow," she said. "There are some trucks down there trying to put some service back to various house. Could we all be mindful that these guys have a job to do and it makes it extremely difficult for them to to go up and down in their bucket just to let cars go by. So if it is not an emergency, perhaps we could all have some patience and let them do their job. Instead of being rude to them (which I did witness this morning), why not offer them a coffee or even a bathroom!"

In Hartford and East Hartford, WFSB reported, power lines fell on some school buses. The WFSB article has a sideways video apparently sent in by someone on the bus, with one kid shouting in the background, "We're all gonna die!"

CTNow reports that East Hartford children safe after cables fell on bus

CTNow.com is reporting that the cables that fell on the bus in East Hartford were all non-active, that the children were all safely moved to a new bus, and that no one was injured.

In Madison, school officials said the decision to delay school was made after they started getting reports from the school bus company that drivers were having trouble making it into work, due to trees down throughout the region.

"It was actually a little bit of a last minute decision, but we started getting information that bus drivers could not make it from throughout the region because of trees down," Scarice said, adding that he was sorry he was not able to give more notice to parents, students, and staff. [Scarice's note to parents explaining the timing of the announcement Thursday is below].

School delays, closings, and wires down

Our Lady of Mercy, the Shoreline Christian School, and The Country School, all in Madison, also announced a 90-minute delay. Temple Beth Tikvah Nursey School closed.

 After a night of high winds and, at some points, driving rain, Madison 911 reported one transformer fire near New Road around 2:54 a.m., and wires down at Race Hill Road near Old Toll Road around 5:20 a.m.

In addition to the customers in Madison without power, Clinton had about 604 customers without power, or about 8 percent of the town; Durham had about 346, or about 11 percent of the town; Guilford had about 1,546 or about 14 percent of the town; and Killingworth had about 1,026, or about 36 percent of the town as of 10:30 a.m.

Outages reported on County Road, Waterbury Avenue, and Yankee Glen

Madison Patch readers on Facebook reported power outages on County Road, Waterbury Avenue, Durham Road near Green Hill, and Yankee Glen, so both the north and south ends of town, and points in between were affected. Most of the outages started around 5:30 a.m, they said.

Scarice said the Town Campus Learing Center was without power early Thursday morning, but, after looking out at the school from his office at town campus, he said it appears that power has been restored to that school, which serves the pre-kindergarten students. As of 7:30 a.m., all schools had power, he said.

The National Weather Service says a wind warning remains in effect for New Haven County until 6 p.m. Thursday

NWS: Strong winds, heavy rain could pose a hazard, driving will be difficult

"Strong winds in combination with heavy rain could bring down whole trees, large tree limbs, power lines and unsecured objects. This could pose a hazard to anyone out driving or walking, and to houses and other structures near larger trees," the NWS said. "Driving also will be difficult, espescially in high profile vehicles and on elevated roadways and bridges."

Winds will be southwest, 20 to 30 miles per hour, with gusts up to 50 miles per hour, the NWS says.

Metro-North Railroad reported delays on its New Haven line Thursday morning, and said "New Haven Line Customers traveling eastbound to Noroton Heights, Darien, Rowayton, East Norwalk, Westport and Greens Farms must take a train to Southport then get a Westbound train to get access to these stations due to wire issues in the area. Please listen for announcements at your station."

Here is the extended forecast for Madison from the National Weather Service, as of Thursday evening:

  • Friday A slight chance of snow showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 33. Northwest wind 10 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
  • Friday Night Partly cloudy, with a low around 14. Northwest wind 6 to 14 mph.
  • Saturday Partly sunny, with a high near 29. West wind 5 to 10 mph.
  • Saturday Night Light snow likely, mainly after 2am. Cloudy, with a low around 24. West wind 5 to 7 mph becoming light and variable after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
  • Sunday Light snow likely, mainly before 4pm. Cloudy, with a high near 33. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
  • Sunday Night A chance of light snow before 3am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 17. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
  • Monday Sunny, with a high near 33. Breezy.
  • Monday Night A chance of light snow. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 18. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
  • Tuesday A chance of light snow. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 30. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
  • Tuesday Night A chance of snow. Cloudy, with a low around 21. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
  • Wednesday A chance of light snow. Partly sunny, with a high near 32. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
  • Wednesday Night Mostly clear, with a low around 17.
  • Thursday Mostly sunny, with a high near 34.

Superintendent of Schools Tom Scarice's note to parents on the 90-minute delay Thursday:

January 31, 2013

Dear Friends:

The school district uses a variety of informational sources to determine whether to close schools, delay the opening of schools, or dismiss schools early. These sources include actual physical inspection of the roads and school campus conditions by Madison Public Works officials, the Madison Police Department, and other staff at selected locations throughout the town, as well as an analysis of independent reports from the National Weather Service, Accu-Weather, and the news media. After decisions are made, we focus attention on communicating with you.

Typically, the decision to delay the opening of schools is made by 5:00 a.m. or shortly thereafter. Based on the conditions of the roads and the weather forecast at 4:30 this morning we were prepared to open schools on time. New reports of downed trees and road blockages in Madison were shared with us after 5:30 a.m. In addition, conditions across the state caused delays for some school bus drivers commuting to Madison.

I apologize for any inconvenience this caused your family and appreciate your understanding in this unusual circumstance. As always, our first priority is the safety of our students and staff.

Sincerely,

Thomas R. Scarice
Superintendent


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