Community Corner

Large Oak Tree And Swamp Hampered Efforts To Restore Power

Heavy rains on Sunday resulted in trees falling on power lines leaving some in Stonington without power for more than twenty-four hours.

 

Connecticut Light & Power employees tramped through a swamp to restore power to Stonington customers.

“It wasn’t your typical side of the street outage,” CL&P spokesperson Mitch Gross said. “This was one that required us accessing a swamp area.”

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

A brief but heavy rainstorm on Sunday afternoon in Stonington without power. The majority of the power outages were in the Mystic area although in Pawcatuck, Stonington Green, Fallon, Cowell, Court, Lee and Rivercrest were also without power. Most customers regained power Sunday evening, but restoring power to customers on Mistuxet, Hewitt, Clipper, Pequotsepos, Golden, Richmond, Hatch, Sloop, Cutter, Whaler, Pleasant and Schooner in Mystic wasn’t as easy.

According to Gross a large oak tree came down during the storm taking down four sections of lines and breaking multiple circuits. When CL&P crews were not able to restore power by Monday morning dismissed .

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

First Selectman , said he was in constant contact with CL&P throughout the restoration efforts and that between having to access the swamp area and the rain on Monday afternoon it took CL&P longer than expected to restore power.

Customers saw their power restored by 7 p.m., on Monday, which for some meant they went more than 24 hours without power. One Stonington-Mystic Patch user told me they ended up bringing everything in their freezer to their in-laws while another user told me they also had a tree fall on their house.

“It wasn’t a quick fix and we understand how customers are upset,” Gross said. “It was an unfortunate situation.”

Gross said that the circuits and substation were built years ago and the difficult terrain is just something the company has to deal with today.

“Every situation is different,” Gross said, adding that if someone experiences a power outage they should report it so the company has accurate information.

“Don’t assume your neighbor has called it in,” Goss said.


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