Community Corner

CL&P Working Now To Restore Power

Eight Power Company Trucks Were Spotted Getting Off Of Exit 90

Stonington residents have let Patch know they've seen power company trucks getting off of Exit 90 in Mystic and near in Pawcatuck, but as of 10:20 a.m., 7,623 Stonington Connecticut Light & Power customers were still without power.

CL&P officials said that 800 crews, some of whom came from as far away as Florida and Michigan, are starting to fan out across the state right now to begin the work of restoring power. But their first priority, a CL&P spokeswoman said, will be to assess the extent of damage and then work with local public works crews in towns to clear trees from roadways and make streets safe and passable again.

After that the crews will begin tackling the problem of restoring power.

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

“In preparing for this hurricane, we were able to more than double the size of our workforce, said Jeff Butler, CL&P president and chief operating officer. “Now that it is safe for our crews to be out, we’re able to mobilize all of our available resources.  At the same time, we continue trying to get additional crews to expedite our efforts.”

While it will take a week, and possibly longer, for everyone to get their power back, some customers will get it back sooner, CL&P officials said.

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

As of 8:30 a.m., the outage figures for CL&P were as follows:

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

Total CL&P Customers Reported Affected:
587,705

% of CL&P Customers Reported Affected:
47%

In Stonington, 95 percent were still without power, Groton, 93 percent were still without power, New London was 48 percent without power, and Clinton was 97 percent without power.

The widespread power outage from Irene is the largest CL&P has seen since Hurricane Gloria struck the state in 1985, knocking out power to more than 477,000 customers.

In all, more than 700,000 homes and businesses in Connecticut are without electricity Sunday. That figure included about 90,000 customers of United Illuminating.

CL&P crews will be responding to priority calls and cutting the power to downed lines to make areas safe.  Restoring power to critical customers such as hospitals, police and fire departments will be a top priority.

Restoration efforts will continue around the clock, CL&P said in a press release just issued, though most of its workforce will be deployed during the day.

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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