UPDATE: Due to a mechanical problem at the high school, the shelter moved to the Quaker Farms School at 30 Great Oak Road. It was scheduled to open at 6 p.m. Sunday. FIND UPDATED SHELTER INFO HERE.
Original story follows:
Just 30 minutes after the shelter officially opened, three people arrived at Oxford High School on Quaker Farms Road to take hot showers.
An e-mail from First Selectwoman Mary Ann Drayton-Rogers regarding the shelter is reprinted at the end of this article.
Saturday’s early-season Nor ‘easter has caused a record number of power outages in Connecticut. Connecticut Light and Power had no solid restoration estimates as of Sunday afternoon.
According to CL&P, 100 percent of its Oxford customers were without electricity as of 2:30 p.m.
The situation is worse in Oxford than it was in September during Tropical Storm Irene, when parts of the the town were without power for days.
While temperatures were about 40 degrees at noon — when the shelter opened — the concern is what happens when the temperature drops after dark.
“Right now it’s not bad because it’s sunny out,” said Scott Pelletier, the town’s emergency manager and fire chief.
The high school was a place where residents could seek warmth and a hot shower, as well as food, water, hot coffee, and a cot if needed.
There were snacks like cookies and bagels available, courtesy of Oxford Ambulance Association.
Pelletier said there were cots in a trailer for 100 people, as well as meals ready to eat. Some of the coss were being unloaded as of 1:15 p.m.
Pelletier asked that residents bring their own blankets and bedding.
He was expecting the Red Cross to arrive this afternoon to help run the shelter.
Madalene Taggart, assistant director of Oxford Ambulance Association, brought trays of cookies and other snacks, as well as a large coffee percolator that John Barlow, facilities manager for the high school, immediately plugged in.
Cots were being set up in the gymnasium. A sign-in sheet was on a table with snacks in the front lobby.
There were also meals ready to eat available, Pelletier said, for those who could not prepare food at home.
Water was another concern. There was a hose with water available at the high school, and hoses with water were also available at the town’s three fire houses, at Oxford Center Fire Company, Oxford Road, Quaker Farms Fire Company, 403 Quaker Farms Road, and Riverside Fire Company, 151 Coppermine Road, near the Stevenson Dam.
Nancy Sherback arrived with her daughter Bethany,11, to take showers.
“We lost electricity at 12:30 this morning, we figure,” Sherback said.
She explained she had no hot water at home.
Sherback said she has plans for the night so she doesn’t need to stay at the shelter.
“I have a wood burning stove, so we have heat,” she said.
Residents driving to the high school should be very cautious. There are many fallen branches and tree limbs littering the roads.
From the First Selectwoman:
“A code RED message has just been launched to all Oxford residents. The Emergency Shelter at OHS, 61 Quaker Farms Road will open today at 12:30.
Overnight accommodations will be provided to those without heat and power. Due to the large number of residents without power, if residents can seek shelter with family or friends that have power, that is also encouraged. If using the shelter please bring bedding and necessary medications with you.
We continue to urge residents to stay off local roads, to avoid coming in contact with power lines and downed trees with lines on them. Power outages are expected to last up to five days.
Oxford Schools will be closed on Monday and Trick or Trunk is canceled for Monday evening. The Oxford Town Hall will be open at 9 AM on Monday.”
