Power came back to most of Seymour Wednesday.
As of 1 p.m., Connecticut Light & Power reported that 672 customers — or 9 percent — remained out of power.
Compare that to Monday at 11 p.m., when the utility company reported 5,135 customers — or 85 percent — had no power in Seymour.
Among the customers to get restored Wednesday: Seymour Town Hall.
“We’re doing much better,” First Selectman Paul Roy said.
Town Hall workers had reported to work Monday and Tuesday, but operated without electricity or telephones, Roy said.
Roy said the town’s CL&P representative said one of the reasons that we have had power restored is that the Seymour Public Works Department did a great job in clearing the roads.
“Their work made it easier for the CL&P crews to do their work,” Roy said. “The town appreciates what our Public Works team did.”
Downtown Power Restored
Town Hall was one of several downtown buildings to get power back over night.
With power restored downtown, the U.S. Postal Service office on Main Street was finally open again.
Inside the post office, Tom Calvanese of Oxford waited in line with a bag full of packages to be shipped.
He said he sells on eBay and needed to mail packages.
“I’m glad,” Calvanese said.
The Washing Machine of Seymour, a landromat in the shopping center next to Town Hall, was packed Wednesday morning.
“We’re getting a lot of people who have no power to do laundry at home,” said owner John Fragano.
After filling a machine with laundry and setting the buttons, customers Lucy and Jim Lynch took a seat near the window and waited for the spinning suds to do their job.
“We did some yesterday and we’re back to do some today,” Lucy Lynch said.
Town Hall itself was buzzing with activity, the first day back with power and phones.
“We got a lot of phone calls this morning from people who wanted to see if we are open, and now we’re waiting for them to come in,” said Town Clerk Esther Rozum.
It’s going to get better, Roy said.
“I would think over the next couple of days it should be 100 percent,” Roy said.
Showers
Even as power was being restored, several people took advantage of the public showers, electricity and water available at Seymour Middle School on Mountain Road.
About half a dozen people had stopped by the middle school by 10 a.m. to take showers.
“That was wonderful,” said Mountain Road resident Michele Corey, who just had taken a hot shower at the school.
The water was hot because the school was getting electricity from a generator out back.
Dave Wojtowicz, an accountant on Route 67 whose office had power back Wednesday, stopped at the middle school to take a shower before his first day back at work. He had been driving out-of-town to visit family and take a shower the past couple of days. He was glad to get back to work and take a shower locally, even if not at home.
He reflected on his days away from the office.
“In the computer age, you can’t do much at work without power,” he said.
Special Thanks
Roy said he was thankful to Seymour residents for being patient during the storm response and power outage.
“Emergency Management Director Tom Eighmie and I worked closely with CL&P to make sure Seymour residents power was restored in a timely and orderly fashion. Many communities are still without power and Seymour is grateful for the efforts of the many workers that came in from places like Iowa and Missouri to help our citizens,” Roy said.
“Most of our citizens remained patient and calm while the restoration process took place. I would like to personally like to thank each and every one of our citizens for their understanding and support during this event.”
