Stonington Bunkers Down For Irene

Howling winds and heavy rains greeted Stonington residents Sunday morning. Hurricane Irene is here, and with the worst of the storm still yet to come 68 percent of Stonington CL&P customers were already without power as of 8 a.m.

First Selectman Edward Haberek Jr., said there are widespread power outages throughout the town, a transformer fire, and multiple trees down.

Over in Stonington Borough Tom Rezendes of reported the power was out, but that Tom’s News is open.

“We’ve got some wires down, power’s off, you know,” Rezendes who plans to be at the store all day, said.

Calls to Starbucks and Bartleby's Café in Mystic went unanswered, while a recording at in Pawcatuck said the number was no longer in service.

Flooding is also starting to be an issue. Water was spilling over the road to Mason’s Island and there were reports the area would soon be inaccessible.

And with wind gusts already close to 60 mph, Haberek said the town was very concerned about having the highway crews and fire departments out in the storm and may soon have to pull them off the roads.

“We’re monitoring the wind speed,” Haberek said.

According to Haberek I-95 Northbound between Exits 90 and 91 is closed due to debris in the highway.

There are now about 68 people at the Red Cross Shelter at .

The town’s Emergency Operations Center is open 24 hours. Call 860-535-5050 with questions.