Schools, Businesses Adversely Affected By Winter Weather

Local residents have stayed home or avoided accidents when driving through tough conditions over the last few weeks, police reported, but the winter weather is causing problems for businesses and schools in Southington.

Many businesses opened late for the second time in a week after snow, sleet and ice covered the town at dawn on Tuesday and the inclement conditions forced Southington schools to take their third straight snow day, marking a full week since students last reported to class.

The disruption in classes started on Jan. 11, when schools were forced to take two snow days right before a scheduled four-day weekend for staff development and Martin Luther King Jr. Day. That presents educational challenges for the district, said School Superintendent Joseph V. Erardi Jr.

“The issue comes in that this is not like a planned vacation. The units of study are designed around regular vacation times but when an interruption like this happens it’s just that – an interruption,” Erardi said.

He said the snow has already pushed exams back two days and there could be further delays on the horizon when another winter storm moves in on Friday.

The district has taken only three snow days so far, however, and there is a little wiggle room remaining. With the recent snow days, Erardi said, seniors are scheduled to graduate June 17. The district must complete 180 days before seniors can graduate and must do so by the end of June.

But local schools aren’t the only ones  affected by the storm, as demonstrated by the number of businesses that chose to remain closed until midday on Tuesday.

on Center Street has remained open during both storms to provide for loyal customers said owner Sue Acevedo, but conditions led to a drastically reduced customer base several times during the past week.

“It has kept people inside and it means less business for us,” she said. “The other challenge is managing your workers so no one is coming in if they don’t have to. We try and plan ahead so those who live further away don’t have to drive.”

Acevedo said she hasn’t regretted the decision to keep her breakfast and lunch business open, however.

“In some sense it can be bad, but we have made up some of it with people coming in on weekends,” she said. “You need to be thankful for what you have and provide for those who do come out.”

Although the weather caused dangerous road conditions, Southington managed to ride out the storm well for a second time with police reporting just three accidents and no injuries.

“The biggest problem we had was a fallen tree, which took out some electrical lines along the Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike,” said Southington Police Sgt. Lowell DePalma.

Connecticut Light and Power reported that the tree fell just before 2:30 p.m. but caused only 11 customers to lose electricity, which was restored within two hours There were no other outages reported in Southington, although the incident did contribute to more than 450 customers in Cheshire losing electricity.

Tuesday’s winter mix may not have had much if an impact of local drivers, but the storm managed to wreak havoc on state roads, including Interstate 84 in Southington, from the time snow first began falling.

State police in Hartford reported having responses to three separate accidents before the storm drew to a close Tuesday afternoon, the first occurring just after 6:30 a.m. when a car crashed into the middle barrier between exits 30 and 29 along I-84 westbound.

The accident forced troopers to close two lanes, but the road was reopened about an hour and a half later.

In all three accidents, police said there were no serious injuries.

Fire officials said the right two lanes along I-84 eastbound were also shut down for more than hour around 10 a.m. Tuesday after a plow truck caught fire. There were no injuries reported, although the truck was fully engulfed in flames.

Despite the conditions, more people were out than during the last storm including the Easley family, who ate breakfast together at the Pepper Pot on Tuesday.

Nikki Easley said she and her husband Matt brought their children, 10-year-old Ben and 7-year-old Christopher, out so everyone could get out of the house and because they normally eat at the Pepper Pot a couple times per week.

Asked whether they were enjoying their time off from school, Ben and Christopher Easley each said they are ready to go back at this point.

“Well, I’m bored,” Ben Easley said.