Community Corner

Madison, Clinton Still Mostly Without Power

Forty seven percent of CL&P customers in Connecticut without power

Ninety nine percent of Madison is still without power as of Monday morning. Of Connecticut Light & Power's 9,048 customers, 9,035 are still without power.

In Clinton, 97 percent of customers were still without power, or 6,825 of 6,987 customers. Statewide, the numbers were as follows:

Total CL&P Customers Served:
1,237,208

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

Total CL&P Customers Reported Affected:
586,232

% of CL&P Customers Reported Affected:
47%

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

Information from Madison

"We have sustained significant damage from both flooding along the water and from trees which have fallen on houses or on roads. Many of these fallen trees have taken utility lines down with them," said Madison First Selectman Fillmore McPherson. "Even though the electric power is currently off throughout the town, these wires could still be dangerous due to backfeed from houses with emergency generators. For your own safety, please do not, repeat not, touch or handle downed wires."

McPherson said CL&P has already started clearing some of the fallen trees from their wires. "Their priority will be first on working to open major roads, then to restore the main feeder circuits and then working on the local lines to get the most people back on line the quickest," McPherson said. "That said, it is possible that it could take up to 7 to 10 days for 100% of their customers to be restored."

"Those of you on wells and without generators will not have access to water," McPherson said. "The best advice I can give is for you to contact a friend in the southern part of town who is on town water, and make arrangements to obtain water from them. If this is not an option, you can come to town hall and obtain water. Just remember to bring your own containers."

"Finally, a number of roads, especially in areas along the water, are closed to all but local traffic. Please avoid these areas," McPherson said. "We will continue to provide updates as we have new information."

A Madison resident who lives in The Highlands on Deveron Drive near the Clinton border has had power restored already. "Two trees were down on wires on Mill Road between its intersection with River Road and the Boston Post Road (a stretch of road one half mile from the Mill/River intersection south to Route One). Once the trees were gone, one pole that was leaning had to be either replaced or supported (I haven’t been outside to check yet). But power was restored to our neighborhood sometime early this morning after midnight," she said to Patch via email.

Information from Clinton, from Aug. 28th

A message from First Selectman William Fritz, Town of Clinton, from Sunday, Aug. 28th: 

"The worst of the weather is over. We have a large number of trees down and several roads are impassable. The town at my request was shut down by CL&P at 6:00 a.m. (Sunday) due to so many lines down throughout the town we determined it was unsafe to operate under those conditions. Tree clearing crews have just been dispatched and will begin clearing major travel ways working toward the less traveled routes later. We are not out of the woods yet. We ... don’t know when power can be restored."

Information from Connecticut Light & Power

With over 650,000 customers to be restored following Hurricane Irene, CL&P is scheduling crews to work around the clock until restoration efforts are complete.  

During a multi-day restoration such as this, approximately 75 percent of crews will begin their shifts around 7:00 a.m. so we can maximize daylight hours and be most productive.  The remaining 25 percent of crews will begin their shifts around 3:00 p.m. and will work through the night.  Given the restoration efforts we face going forward, all employees are also required to take at least an eight hour rest period between shifts to ensure their safety.

“Having the vast majority of crews work during daylight hours allows us to maximize the efficiency of our workforce as we face a week or more of restoration efforts,” said Jeff Butler.  “The safety of our employees, contractors and our customers is of our utmost concern and we want to make sure everyone working on this restoration has appropriate time to rest between shifts.”

For your safety, CL&P also reminds customers to stay at least 10 feet away from all wires. Assume any downed, hanging or burning power lines are live and dangerous. If a power line falls on your vehicle while you’re inside, stay there.  Don’t touch anything outside the vehicle and wait for emergency crews.  Call 9-1-1 immediately with any emergency condition.  

To report outages or check the status of an outage, visit cl-p.com or call 800-286-2000.  Our automated phone and online systems can rapidly process your report and help us speed restoration efforts.  For helpful tips and news updates, go to our website at cl-p.com, follow us on Twitter @CTLightandPower and like us at Facebook.com/CTLightandPower.  You can also get updates on outages in your town by texting “outage” and your zip code to 24612 (texting fees may apply).


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