Thousands Could See Power Restored Thursday

Power restoration efforts are finally in full swing and town officials said Wednesday that is great news for local residents and thousands could see their electricity come back on before the end of the day Thursday. Sgt. Lowell DePalma and Garry Brumback said after numerous challenges in dealing with wires that fell even days after the rare October snowstorm that left nearly 70 percent of the town in the dark, all roads have been reopened and efforts have turned to a full restoration effort across Southington.

“It’s been a big day because we are now in restoration mode, as opposed to the emergency and road opening mode we had been in to this point,” DePalma said. “There’s still a lot of work to be done, but we are now able to watch the numbers and see residents begin to get their power back.”

Connecticut Light & Power officials said Wednesday that after talking with the town, they are committed to helping expedite the restoration effort and have committed significant resources to the community. A fleet of electric utility repair trucks arrived in Southington just before noon Wednesday and as many as 14 crews were working throughout the afternoon to restore power in town.

As of 11 p.m. Wednesday night, 8,042 CL&P customers in Southington were still without electricity, according to CL&P outage maps. Across the state, there were 472,000 CL&P customers were still without power.

Many of the towns schools and commercial sectors were addressed Wednesday. As of Wednesday evening, , and were still without power.

The schools had taken precautions to move food from places that were without power in order to avoid losses, school officials said.

There is still a lot of work to be done, however. Brumback said the town continues to see lines falling under the stress caused by the storm several days ago, which has led to some additional outages as others are being turned on.

For police, there is no change in the job that needs to be done, DePalma said. Officers continue to work overtime shifts and assist the numerous crews by providing police detail to help prevent accidents.

DePalma said residents also need to remember that as work is being done, wires that have fallen or hanging still may not be safe.

“Many wires have been shut off, but there are other concerns and we are worried about people becoming complacent,” DePalma said. “A lot of people have purchased generators and if they are not properly installed, it can actually recharge the wires. CL&P workers will also be charging lines as they make repairs. The safest thing to do is just stay away from electrical wires.”

Brumback said he realizes that many people are frustrated after living with power for so long, but is asking residents to remain patient because some of the work will be difficult to complete quickly.

He said turning power back on isn’t as easy as flipping a switch and some areas will need more work than others. One section of town that is bound to be a large undertaking is the area of Flanders Road just to the north of Southington High School.

Damage to a pole there is so extensive, CL&P officials, that the pole will need a complete replacement and additional work will need to be done to the lines and nearby transformers.

“We are turning the corner. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but we are going to see a lot of lights going back on very soon,” Brumback said.