A failure to communicate in the aftermath of Isaias

Power was restored, slowly, in Region One towns last week after the storm of Tuesday, Aug. 4.

One week later, most Eversource customers in Falls Village, Kent and North Canaan had power, but Sharon, Cornwall and parts of Salisbury lagged behind 

By Thursday, Aug. 13, only Kent and Sharon still had a handful of customers waiting for the lights to come on.

Salisbury First Selectman Curtis Rand was critical of Eversource’s communications. On Thursday morning, Aug. 13, he said that he understands why Northwest Corner towns are at the bottom of the list when much of the state has no power.

But he was frustrated by the difficulty he had in getting answers from the utility.

He suggested the utility have a person dedicated to a certain area who can field questions from first selectmen, who can then report to their townspeople.

That way, “we don’t sound like idiots on day five.”

The power company has promised in the past to make a central point person available. This did not happen in the aftermath of Isaias.

Rand said the storm uprooted a lot of trees, not to mention phone poles, along Weatogue Road. It takes longer to clear uprooted trees than fallen branches.

That’s part of the reason it took several days to get town roads reopened, he said. And even Salmon Kill Road still had a sign indicating local traffic only on Wednesday, Aug. 12.

Falls Village First Selectman Henry Todd echoed Rand’s sentiments about the Eversource response. “A complete lack of communication,” he said on Thursday, Aug. 13. 

Todd said the town crew had all town roads open by last Thursday, Aug. 6, except the section of Beebe Hill Road between Route 7 and Johnson Road, which was cleared by Saturday, Aug. 8.

The crew also returned to Lime Rock Station Road, the site of the Aug. 2 tornado and removed debris.

Cornwall

The wind blew hard on Tuesday afternoon, Cornwall First Selectman Gordon Ridgway recalled, and there was about an inch of rain. Many roads were blocked by downed trees and wires and many people were stuck in their locations and were cutting their own way out if they could, he said. 

The town’s highway department worked to open up the roads. The town needed to serve as its own emergency services dispatcher. Neighbors helped neighbors.

“We learned from what we did right,” Ridgway reported. By Wednesday afternoon, it was clear that the town was on its own, he added.  

“It was pretty remarkable how things kept going,” Ridgway observed.

Things were not done right by the power company, according to Ridgway, although town emergency officials and state Rep. Maria Horn (D-64) endeavored to remain in touch with state officials and power company sources.

Communications were a key problem. The information being provided to the town by the state was not close to being accurate, Ridgway said.

Sharon

In Sharon, the storm damage was equally as severe as in surrounding towns. First Selectman Brent Colley praised the efforts of residents who pitched in to help. At first, there were no power crews to be seen. 

“We had ourselves, the fire department and the Town Hall,” Colley said. 

One large elm tree on the Green near Town Hall lost a large limb and took down a power pole with a transformer attached. He noted that the town was trying to find someone who could set up and orchestrate power trucks. With so many lines down in town, and so many homes operating generators, it was important to be sure that the lines were not live. Home generators can feed power into downed power lines (see story Page A1 on generators). 

“Fortunately, no one was injured or killed,” Colley said.

After some delay, Colley said that work crews came from all over, including Quebec, Illinois, Alabama, Florida and Vermont.  

As in other towns, communication was a significant problem. Colley would like the town and Eversource to get together and come up with a plan to improve communication and provide better updates for residents and emergency workers.

North Canaan

In North Canaan, the whole town lost power, according to First Selectman Charles Perotti. The Green Acres section and the Canaan Valley area were particularly hard hit.

By Wednesday, Aug. 5, power was restored to the town’s center, a significant gain.

“Route 44 was closed for an eternity,” Perotti said of the main route through town.

Lack of communication was a problem for town officials, Perotti said, citing a lack of response from Eversource.  “No one came around to give us a wire status report,” he recalled. He praised the local fire department for having done “a super job.”

Kent

Kent First Selectman Jean Speck said Monday, Aug. 17, that the power wasn’t completely restored until a week after the storm. 

The hardest-hit areas were Kent Hollow and Macedonia, she said.

She was critical of the communications with Eversource, although she emphasized it wasn’t the fault of the company’s community liaison. She said the same information on where outages were had to be submitted  to Eversource multiple times in different formats.

At Town Hall, internet service was restored on Friday, Aug. 7, with a temporary arrangement courtesy of the fire department and Verizon.

Speck said one big worry was the sewage treatment plant, which ran on generator power for several days. Speck said she was worried about what would happen if the generator failed before power was restored.