Power Is Coming Back On In Oxford

Four Connecticut Light & Power crews were at work in Oxford Wednesday, and restored power to more than 40 percent of the customers who have been in the dark.

The crews were focusing on the Oxford Greens neighborhood, Jacks Hill Road and Riggs Street, according to Mary Ann Drayton-Rogers. They expected to continue restoration efforts in town on Thursday as well.

By 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, CL&P was reporting that about 57 percent of their customers in Oxford were still without power. A half hour later, at 4 p.m. another 5 percent of the customers got power.

The percentage was at 42 percent as of 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

That’s down from the estimated 100 percent who have been without power since Sunday.

CL&P said it expects to get 99 percent of the town restored by midnight on Sunday, Nov. 6.

“It’s getting better every day,” Drayton-Rogers said Wednesday afternoon. “It’s coming down. And I would expect by the end of the day it will be down further and they’ll make significant progress tomorrow.”

The CL&P crews have been clearing trees from lines, and were working on restoration Wednesday.

As of Wednesday afternoon, only one road remained partially closed — Hogs Back Road.

Shelter

The Oxford school district announced that schools would remain closed on Thursday, Nov. 3 and Friday, Nov. 4 because of the power outages and messy roads.

However, the town continues to operate an emergency shelter out of Quaker Farms School on Great Oak Road. The shelter is open 24 hours a day, and available for residents to stay overnight to keep warm.

Hot meals will be served at the shelter Wednesday (Nov. 2), after 5 p.m., Drayton-Rogers said.

In addition, the town will again open up the Oxford High School from 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday (Nov. 2) to allow residents to shower at the facilities. That has happened each night to give more people an opportunity to shower, because the Quaker Farms School facilities don’t have as many showers as the high school.

The town has been notifying residents of the shelter and school closing information with CodeRED calls.

“Our town is run by volunteers. From the very beginning, the fire, ambulance personnel, and public works, have been working tremendously long hours to assist in everything that needs to be done,” Drayton-Rogers said. “The majority of our residents are handling this with a sense of what can they do to help, and understanding. More so than with the first hurricane event we had in town.”

Oxford has also been in touch with state officials about election day preparations after the power outages, Drayton-Rogers said.

She said Oxford’s election on Nov. 8 won’t be affected by the storm.

“In Oxford, I think we’re in great shape,” Drayton-Rogers said. “We’ll be going forward. I don’t see any reason we would have any delays in town. It will be business as usual for us.”

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