Shelton opened an emergency shelter at the Senior Center at 81 Wheeler St. Tuesday morning as officials began to assess the damage left by “Superstorm” Sandy.
Fire Marshal James Tortora said the shelter opened about 9:30 a.m.. He said he didn’t know what kind of demand the facility would see.
“I haven’t heard anybody request it yet,” he said. “We’re set up for it.”
The shelter will remain open for “at least the rest of the day,” he said.
As of about 10:30 a.m. United Illuminating was reporting 9,492 customers out in Shelton, about 54.44 percent of the city.
The city’s four firehouses will also remain open Tuesday if residents need to charge cell phones or get clean water.
Shelton’s firehouses are:
- Echo Hose Hook & Ladder Fire Company 1 (DOWNTOWN, 379 Coram Ave.) – 203 – 924-4200
- Huntington Fire Company 3 (HUNTINGTON, 44 Church St.) – 203 – 929-1414
- Pine Rock Fire Company 4 (PINE ROCK, 722 Long Hill Ave.) – 203 – 929-1539
- White Hills Fire Company 5 (WHITE HILLS, 2 School St.) – 203 – 929-4554
But Tortora said residents should let crews clear the roads first, if possible.
“People should stay off the road unless they need to go out,” he said.
“Today we’re just making areas safe, clearing the roads, opening up the roads, then we’ll assess on a priority basis what’s going to be restored after that,” Tortora said.
He said storm damage was pretty widespread throughout the city, with the Pine Rock Park area and Huntington Center hit particularly hard.
In terms of injuries, Tortora said “there was nothing substantial or major at this time that we know of.”
A representative from United Illuminating has been working in the Emergency Operations Center at City Hall, Tortora said, but officials won’t know how long it will take to restore power to the whole city until later Tuesday.
“We’ll estimate today how long people will be without power,” he said. “It may take several days for some people.”
