“Make safe” was the phrase of the day in the Valley Tuesday, a day after Superstorm Sandy tore through the region.
It’s a utility company term that describes the first steps of the recovery process after something like Sandy brings a power grid to its knees.
“Make safe” was happening from Oxford to Shelton Tuesday as utility crews de-energized power lines, assessed damage, and prioritized repairs.
It clears a path for the next step in the recovery process — actual repairs and power restoration to the thousands of people without electricity in the Valley since Monday.
Day one of the “make safe” phase lasted locally until about 8 p.m. or so, for the most part. It is expected to continue Wednesday in Ansonia, Oxford, Seymour and Shelton.
As of Tuesday night, there were no estimates of when the lights will come back on — much to the irritation of those without power.
But emergency officials throughout the Valley said utility crews are on the ground working, as opposed to 2011, when towns complained bitterly that utility workers were nowhere to be found during two major storms.
Derby
Derby was lucky enough to start seeing restoration Tuesday night. Charles Sampson, the city’s director of emergency management, sent the Valley Indy an e-mail just before 8 p.m. saying most of east Derby was back online.
“I am pleased to announce that power has just been restored to the majority of the eastside of town. We have dropped from 2,500 outages to just over 200 outages in the past hour,” Sampson said.
Toppled trees on Academy Hill Road were responsible for the majority of power problems in Derby. Navigating Route 34 in east Derby was particularly challenging Tuesday because the traffic lights were out. Click here to watch what it was like to traverse Route 34 Tuesday.
Ansonia
Ansonia also saw progress Tuesday night.
Darkened traffic lights were also an issue in Ansonia, said police Chief Kevin Hale, who also serves as the city’s emergency management director.
Hale said police put out stop signs and other portable markings to keep drivers safe. They couldn’t put a cop at every corner because there simply aren’t enough officers for that type of response, the chief said.
At about 4:15 p.m. Tuesday, Hale said UI crews were working hard to fix an important electrical line on Prindle Avenue which fed electricity to a large swath of Ansonia, including the Ansonia Police Department.
That line appeared fixed by 9 p.m., as 9.8 percent of the city was without power. That was a solid decrease from 2 p.m. Wednesday, when almost 17 percent of Ansonia was out.
Roads expected to remain closed Tuesday night into Wednesday included the top of Division Street near Griffin Hospital, Beaver Street from Moulthrop Street to the Seymour town line, a portion of Benz Street and several smaller side roads.
“Parts of Grove Street and Howard Avenue are closed as well,” the chief said.
The National Guard had to deliver large temporary generators to the Ansonia Police Department Tuesday morning because the building’s back-up generator failed. That could have been a serious issue, as the building served as the city’s emergency operations center.
Hale was grateful for the state and National Guard for quickly handling the problem.
Oxford
All four Oxford public schools will not be in session Wednesday. All school and district offices will be open, though.
“Road conditions have remained largely unchanged,” explained Superintendent Tim Connellan about why schools will be closed. “At last report, there are still about a dozen roads that are impassable and approximately thirty-five that are unsafe due to downed trees and/or power lines.”
Click to read more at Oxford Patch.
Seymour
Seymour remained stuck at 54 percent without power from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday. That’s 4,114 CL&P customers.
First Selectman Kurt Miller issued a Code Red message about 6:30 p.m. advising residents that emergency crews would work into the night with the hope of beginning power restoration Wednesday.
Miller said Town Hall and the Community Center on Pine Street will remain closed Wednesday due to no power in the downtown area, but that trash and recycling pickup would resume.
Timm Willis, Seymour’s Deputy Director of Emergency Management, said about 50 people had used the town’s shelter at Seymour Middle School since it opened Tuesday afternoon, mostly to use showers.
The shelter, at 211 Mountain Road, will also be open Wednesday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Willis said crews out Tuesday spent their time clearing roads, particularly the area around Mountain Road, since the town’s shelter is there, as well as “multiple other areas throughout town.”
“The Great Hill section of town definitely took the worst of it,” Willis said about the damage caused by the storm. “However, the South Main and Colony Road area also had a great deal of damage.”
“We’re still at approximately 46 percent without power,” Willis said. “It’s not great, but we’re not in bad shape.
“We still have a way to go,” he added. “We’re still advising people that if they can do so safely, please stay home. It’s the safest place for you. I hope that tomorrow we can start getting some restoration.”
Compared to last year’s significant storms, Willis said Sandy was less severe.
“We did not see the basement pumpouts that we did during Irene and we did not see the number of calls for service that we did for winter storm Alfred,” he said.
Still, he said firefighters were dispatched to more than 50 calls between 6 and 10 p.m. Monday.
“A busy day for Seymour fire is two or three calls,” Willis said.
Shelton
In Shelton, about 2,700 UI customers saw their power restored between 2 p.m. and 9 p.m. Tuesday.
Fire Marshal James Tortora said most of the city’s major roads were cleared of downed trees but there were still some closures that crews were working on.
“UI will be working into the night, we’re not sure how long yet, to get done what they can tonight and then first thing tomorrow morning will be at it again,” he said.
Precise restoration estimates from the utility won’t be available until more of the problem areas are assessed, but Tortora estimated power should be restored citywide within 48 hours.
“I would say (power will be restored) within a maximum of two days, but we can’t be exactly sure, it depends how bad the damage is,” he said. “There’s still some major damage out there it’s going to take a long time to repair. Hopefully by mid-day tomorrow we’ll know a lot better.”
The city’s shelter at the Senior Center on Wheeler Street was still open at 5 p.m., though no residents were using it.
The plan was to close it Tuesday unless demand changed, Tortora said.
