Police: "We Dodged A Bullet With This Storm"

Roof collapses, accidents and disabled vehicles all played roles in a busy last two days for the Southington Police Department as two storms buried the region is ice and snow, but officers said the town managed to ride the storm well despite the challenges.

Sgt. Lowell DePalma, Public Information Officer for the Southington Police Department, said that considering the weather forecast, officers couldn’t have asked for things to turn out much better.

“It was certainly busy, but from what they were predicting I’d say we dodged a bullet with this one,” he said.

Heavy icing can often lead to dozens of accidents, downed wires, fallen trees and closed roads, DePalma said, but surprisingly these were not an issue so much during the latest storms.

Police records showed that from midnight on Tuesday until 4 p.m. Wednesday, officers responded to a total of nine accidents, three public hazard complaints and 11 disabled vehicles. There were no serious injuries reported in any of these incidents.

There were no downed wires, no trees in roadways and the only road closed was Curtiss Street on Tuesday for a water main break that was not weather-related.

But Southington was not entirely without issues either.

Roof damage led to two separate evacuations over the past few days at Home Depot on the Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike and at Yarde Metals on Newelll Street, and a roof collapsed at Country Dog Training on West Street.

Police and fire officials were busy Wednesday after Yarde Metals reported that the roof was collapsing in building 2, a warehouse type building behind headquarters. The roof did not cave in, but damage was reported.

There were some initial concerns after an employee was missing following an evacuation just before noon but the person was found and no one was injured. Newell Street remained closed Wednesday night as workers attempted to clear the roof of snow and ice after it was deemed safe to walk on.

Yarde Metals said in a press release that the building would remain closed until the removal is complete and repairs are made.

It was the second time in two days a local business was forced to close because of roof damage after Home Depot evacuated employees and customers from its Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike location due to a problem with the roof.

Once it was deemed safe, store employees said people were allowed back inside but a section remains closed as repairs are completed. The store is expected to be fully functional within the next couple days.

Although it did not require much of a response from police, Country Dog Training will be closed until further notice because of its roof collapsing at 1177 West St. on Wednesday. No one was injured.

State police reported having “a busy couple days” as well, with the storms wreaking havoc on many state roads and highways. There were no serious accidents or road closures in the Southington area, however.

Calls seeking exact numbers were not returned on Wednesday.