Residents in some western Connecticut towns are still without power after last week’s historic severe weather.
Extensive tree damage is responsible for keeping Eversource customers in the dark. The utility company is tasked with replacing 288 miles of downed wire, which Eversource said was almost three times the amount that Superstorm Sandy dropped in 2012.
“It’s the distance between Hartford and Washington D.C.—that’s how much downed wire we are having to replace,” said Mitch Gross, a spokesman for Eversource. “We are addressing nearly 2,000 broken utility poles and on top that, we’re dealing with over 400 blocked roads. These are roads where our lines have come down and they’re tangled with the tree debris and they all have to be taken apart and cleaned up so are crews can get up into those neighborhoods and continue their work.”
Jeff Manville is the first selectman of Southbury, where all but two percent of the town lost power after the storm hit. Manville said, as of Monday afternoon, more than 95 percent of the townspeople are back online.
Manville’s satisfied with Eversource’s response. He said the reason it’s taken so long to get power back has nothing to do with the company.
“It just took a little bit of time, which seemed a long time in the beginning, but only because for one problem, we were having difficulty getting our own public works crews in because they were trapped on the roads,” Manville said.
Eversource is aiming to restore power fully by the end of Monday. Gross said some may not get the power back depending on how badly their homes or businesses were damaged.
