Power Restored to Nearly All New Canaan Homes [UPDATING]

Update 8:30 a.m. Wednesday

All but 26 New Canaan homes had power back on Wednesday morning, following high-wind storms overnight into Monday that brought down power lines throughout the town, according to Eversource.

New Canaan Department of Emergency Management Director Mike Handler said at 8 p.m. Tuesday, as trick-or-treaters hit the streets in town, that New Canaan had “made significant progress towards power restoration” with just 73 homes remaining without power.

“The not so good news is that most of these are single outages, which as we know from experience take longer to restore,” Handler said. “Eversource crews are working this evening in the following areas: Bank Street, White Oak Shade Road, Thurton Drive, and Betsy’s Lane. While some homes might take longer, Eversource is now estimating substantial restoration by 6 p.m. [Wednesday] evening. I assure you all New Canaan resources will remain dedicated to assisting Eversource until power is restored to the last remaining home in town.”

Officials from Eversource issued the following press release on Tuesday afternoon:

Eversource line and tree crews worked overnight Monday to restore power to customers impacted by a devastating wind and rain storm that caused severe damage and knocked out power to more than 1.3 million homes and businesses in New England. As of midday Tuesday, Eversource had restored power to more than 229,000 Connecticut customers.

“We’ve made tremendous progress and will continue working 24/7 until all customers have their power back on,” said Eversource Vice President of Electric Operations in Connecticut Michael Hayhurst. “The vast majority of customers in western and central Connecticut will have power restored by tomorrow evening. Given the significant damage in the southeastern part of the state, where we have to rebuild portions of the electric system, we expect power to be restored by Thursday at noon.”

More than 200 additional utility crews from as far as Florida, Ohio, Alabama and Tennessee are assisting Eversource crews with restoration efforts or are on the way. A convoy of close to 30 lineworker crews from New York arrived in Connecticut this afternoon with dozens of other crews expected to arrive in the state later today and tomorrow.

Update 6 p.m. Tuesday

As of 6 p.m. Tuesday, 192 New Canaan homes remained without power, about 2 percent of Eversource customers in town, according to the company.

Department of Emergency Management Director Mike Handler provided this afternoon update:

This is Mike Handler with a 1 pm update. In this morning’s update, I asked everyone to please call any downed power lines on private property into the New Canaan Police Department. Your efforts enabled us to identify 30 additional hazards. I am again going to ask everyone to please check their property and to call (203) 594-3500 and report any downed wires. While our crews are working with Eversource to de-energize all known downed wires, the possibility exists that we might not get to all of them prior to the start of children trick-or-treating. The following addresses are known to have downed power lines on their property:

• 46/58 Betsey’s Lane 
  95 Woods End Road
  463 White Oak Shade Road 
  216 Carter Street
  200 South Bald Hill Road 
  170 Weed Street
  125 Cedar Lane 
  141 Thurton Drive
  126 Chichester Road

While we hope to have these issues resolved by 4 pm, please use caution this evening and do not move any barricades or caution tape. Remember to always treat downed wires as live energized wires. Our goal is to have a safe Halloween and your assistance is greatly appreciated. I thank you in advance for your understanding and patience and I will continue to update you as appropriate.

Update 8:45 a.m. Tuesday

After showing full restoration of power in New Canaan earlier in the morning, Eversource at 8:45 a.m. Tuesday showed 326 homes in town without power on its outage list.

Mike Handler, director of emergency management for the town, in an update said that “while significant progress was made overnight, we are still pushing Eversource for additional utility line crews in order to speed up the restoration process.”

“At this time Eversource is unable to provide an estimate for town-wide power restoration. All roadways in town are safe and passable but we are still working on clearing downed wires from private driveways. To better assist us, please call all downed wires on private property into the New Canaan Police Department at (203) 594-3500 and to Eversource at (800) 286-2000.”

He added: “We want to make certain that no one is unable to get out of their home and given that today is Halloween, we must be certain that all downed wires are de-energized. Eversource will be working this morning in the area of Seminary Street and Lambert Road. Metro North is operating and all public schools are operating on their normal schedules. Additional information will be provided as we receive it.”

Update 5:30 a.m. Tuesday

As of Tuesday morning, power had been restored to all New Canaan homes, according to Eversource.

Update 8:11 p.m. Monday

As of 8 p.m. Monday, 16 percent of New Canaan homes remained without power, according to Eversource.

Department of Emergency Management Director Mike Handler said priority areas for Eversource line crews included Brushy Ridge Road, Elm Street and Cheese Spring Road. The power company could not supply an estimated time for town-wide restoration, he said.

Efforts on Monday night focused first on making roadways “passable for emergency vehicles,” Handler said, in order to make sure “no home is inaccessible should there be a true emergency.”

“The town’s full resources from Public Works and Highways have been working to clear trees and debris since early this morning. As has always been the case, Eversource was updated in real-time throughout last night with each downed tree involving electrical wires. The first utility crew from Eversource arrived at approximately noon today and we are now working with their six utility line crews to make all remaining roads safe and passable tonight.”

Update 5:41 p.m. Monday

Some 17 percent of New Canaan homes—a total of 1,456 residences—remained without power as of 5:40 p.m. Monday, according to Eversource.

Update 1:44 p.m. Monday

About 21 percent of New Canaan homes remained without power as of 1:44 p.m. Monday, according to Eversource’s outage map. That represents 1,743 homes in town, the data says.

Mike Handler, director of emergency management in New Canaan, said in a recorded call and though the Office of Emergency Management’s Facebook page that public schools will be dismissed at the regular time Monday.

“New Canaan Highway department crews are awaiting Eversource utility crews in order to address approximately 20 roads that are still impassable with wires involved,” Handler said. “Our first priority will be to make all roads passable for emergency vehicles and then we will commence with power restoration. While the damage appears to be far less severe than previous storms, Eversource is unable to provide us with an estimate for restoration. We are still anticipating gusting winds and the potential for further damage to our electrical infrastructure still exists.”

He again urged residents to stay clear of downed trees and wires, and to use the general NCPD phone number of 203-594-3500 for non-emergencies (not 91-1-1). Outages should be reported to Eversource at 800-286-2000.

Update 11:52 a.m. Monday

More than 24 percent of New Canaan homes were without power as of 11:52 a.m. Monday, according to Eversource. During restoration, officials often must deliberately shut down power in some areas to make working on their equipment safe.

Original Article

More than 15 percent of New Canaan homes remained without power late Monday morning, in the wake of heavy winds overnight that saw downed trees and tree limbs force multiple road closures.

New Canaan Public Schools opened after a two-hour delay as police and firefighters were dispatched to problem areas throughout the morning, including a fire on Seminary Street around 10:30 a.m. that appeared to start as a result of downed power lines.

New Canaan Director of Emergency Management Mike Handler put out a town-wide call at 8:45 a.m. saying that Metro-North Railroad service had been halted because of a tree that fell across overhead catenary wiring. Handler urged New Canaanites to avoid areas with downed trees and power lines, and to report all non-emergency issues to the police at 203-594-3500 and outages to Eversource at 800-286-2000.

The 15.3 percent of New Canaan homes without power represent 1,291 Eversource customers, according to the company.

As of 9:14 a.m., according to Police Chief Leon Krolikowski, roads with problems of fallen trees and wires included Forest Street, Lone Tree Road, Cheese Spring Road, Father Peter’s Lane, Carter Street, Lambert Road, Silvermine Road, South Bald Hill Road, Bridle Path Lane, Spring Water Lane and Rocky Brook Road as well as the intersection of Wahackme Road and Weed Street. Downed trees additionally were reported on Bickford Lane and Rosebrook Road, and wires at Mariomi and Fox Run Roads.

NewCanaanite.com will update this article with new information as it becomes available.