More than half of New Canaan remained without power midday Sunday after powerful storms struck the town and region on Independence Day.
Families attending the beloved picnic and fireworks at Waveny fled the park minutes into the show—itself pushed up in the evening due to impending storms—as powerful wind and rain moved in.
As of 12 p.m. Sunday, 53.75% of Eversource’s New Canaan customers remained without power, according to the utility company. The figure represents 4,957 households.
The company is “focused on clearing blocked roads with power lines, then will transition to service restoration,” New Canaan’s emergency management dircector, Russ Kimes III, said in a townwide outcall Sunday morning.
“Eversource has not provided any time estimates for any service restorations in New Canaan,” he said. “Treat every downed line as if it were a live wire, do not remove barricades or police tape blocking roads with downed wires.”
Walter Stewart’s Market is open and operating Sunday.
Eversource President of Connecticut Electric Operations Don Scacco said in a statement: “This storm was significantly more powerful and widespread than was forecasted and caused substantial damage in several states throughout the entire region, including Connecticut, and we continue to assess the widespread and extensive damage to the electric system. The intense storm with up to 65+ mph winds brought down tree limbs and branches onto electric lines and equipment causing power outages in communities across the state. Our crews in the field worked all night and remain on the job responding as quickly and safely as possible to address community priorities such as blocked roads while also clearing damage and making necessary repairs to the electric system and will continue working around-the-clock until every customer has their power back on.”