There were supposedly three United Illuminating crews in Derby Tuesday, where 317 UI customers have been out of power since the weekend’s Hurricane Irene — but emergency management director Charles Sampson sure as heck didn’t see them.
“There were zero crews here today. No work got done in the City of Derby today on this issue, except for AT&T coming out to put two new telephone poles on Hawthorne Avenue,” Sampson said.
Derby officials have no clue when power to the neighborhoods west of Osbornedale State Park will be restored — or to Derby High School, where officials don’t know why the electricity isn’t working.
There are no downed lines around the high school. School district officials said they can’t open the school until the power is back on. The first day of school was supposed to be Tuesday.
Sampson said Derby can’t get someone from UI to tell them why the power at the high school isn’t working.
“We’re not sure why the power is out and we can’t get anybody from UI to come and say what the issue is,” he said. “We have a UI liason who is with me all day long faxing in the information about all these places where we need tree crews, but the best answer she can get from her control center is ‘It’s in the queue.’”
“Even the UI representatives that are in the area are in the dark,” Sampson said.
While the utility companies hack away at the huge outages in the surrounding towns — 85 percent of Seymour was out Monday morning, but that had shrunk to 43 percent by Tuesday night — Derby can’t seem to catch a break.
Motorists on a sharp turn on Hawthorne Avenue near Lakeview Terrace are greeted by a large tree draped over the power lines. Cars must swerve into the opposite lane to avoid it.
Silver Hill Road is blocked by a huge pile of downed trees and wires near Joyce Avenue.
Sampson said a crew from the utility company did work on Hurricane Irene damaged power lines after the storm at the intersection of Cemetery Road and Roosevelt Drive.
They didn’t tell city officials they were coming — and they haven’t been seen since, Sampson said.
The problem, Sampson believes, is that UI’s rigid, multi-layered clean-up and restoration procedure is ludicrous given the scope of the outages.
The utility isn’t coordinating with the local Department of Public Works, who could help UI tree crews clear areas much quicker.
“They should have the foreman for the crews that are coming into the towns meet with the public works director, go over the list of issues in the city, then set up how they’ll work it,” Sampson said.
While the number of people without power is tiny compared to other areas — Sampson is clearly not alone in his opinion of the Hurricane Irene restoration effort.
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro said she’s hearing similar complaints throughout the state. In addition to pushing to get more utility crews into the state, DeLauro said she’s pressuring UI and Connecticut Light and Power to talk more to local officials.
“I have asked that United Illuminating and Connecticut Light & Power increase their coordination with local towns and officials. Our local public works departments are ready and able to assist in the recovery process, and their efforts will help to speed our recovery,” DeLauro said.
Areas of Derby that still are without power (not a complete list):
- Hawthorne Avenue in the Lakeview Avenue area
- Derby Neck Road
- Silver Hill
- Cullens Hill Road
- The McDonald’s on Division Street
- Derby High School
- McConney’s Grove
- 70 Atwater Avenue lines ripped off the house
Showers Offered At Community Center
Sampson said Mayor Staffieri has called a meeting for Wednesday, 9 a.m. to talk about offering the city’s Community Center at the corner of Olivia and Fifth Street as a place to shower for people who don’t have power.
Details will be finalized and made public after the meeting via a reverse 911 phone message and a press release to local media.
Volunteers from Derby’s Office of Emergency Management were scheduled to go to Rentschler Field Wednesday to collect bottled water and ready-to-eat meals. Those supplies will be given out at the Community Center.
The good news, Sampson said, is that no one in Derby has contacted officials to say they’re in distress. People are getting through it.
“We’re going to get those supplies and open the center because it’s the neighborly thing to do,” he said.
