Signs of life on Friday morning but progress is slow

Late Thursday night, power company Eversource offered a prediction that restoration of power would be “substantially complete” by midnight on Tuesday, Aug. 11. The company said in its email update that, “Substantially complete means fewer than 1% of customers are still without power.”
On Friday morning, Northwest Corner residents were still reporting on social media that they had not yet seen any repair vehicles from Eversource or the tree removal companies that the power company normally works with such, as Lewis Tree Service.
The Lakeville Journal’s Janet Manko had spoken with one Eversource employee in Falls Village near the company’s station on Main Street near the Lee H. Kellogg School. That worker had said that the Eversource crews who are normally assigned to the area towns are all hard at work “but it’s a lot for one guy to do.”
Gov. Ned Lamont on Thursday, Aug. 6, called on the state National Guard to step in and help to clear the trees and branches that are blocking roads and hanging on power and telecommunications lines.
Backup workers were also expected to arrive today, Friday, Aug. 7, from Canada, Michigan and Massachusetts.
Lamont requested a presidential emergency declaration, which was approved late Thursday night by Pres. Donald J. Trump. Lamont had already declared a state of emergency in Connecticut on Thursday.
Many roads still closed
On Friday morning, many Northwest Corner roads remained closed. Earlier in the week, on the day after Isaias, all roads to Norfolk had been closed. By Friday morning, Route 44 had opened, making it possible to drive through North Canaan to the Stop & Shop market and then proceed to Norfolk and other nearby towns.
But Route 44 into North Canaan remained closed from Dutcher’s Bridge at the Salisbury town line to just before the center of town, at the C.A. Lindell hardware store.
Several main roads remained closed in Salisbury as well, including Salmon Kill, and in other towns.
Clearing the roads has been an urgent need, not just to keep the power lines clear but also to allow emergency vehicles to get to area residents in distress. A 54-year-old woman died in a fire on Wednesday night, in North Canaan. Her elderly mother and stepfather were able to exit the house, according to an article in the Waterbury Republican American newspaper, but they were unable to rescue their daughter, who has cerebral palsy.
The fire was possibly caused by a generator and electrical extension cords. Firefighters were delayed by trees blocking roads, according to the Republican American.
Power: better and worse
It has not been announced where the emergency backup crews will be deployed when they arrive. The Eversource outage map indicates that relatively fewer customers in the Northwest Corner were affected than those in the larger towns and cities farther south and east in the state.
Power has been slowly restored to some area customers, notably in North Canaan, where there had been 1,248 customers (out of 1,471) without power on Thursday afternoon. By Friday morning, that number had been reduced to 505.
Some towns have seen steadily increasing numbers of customers without power. On Thursday afternoon in Cornwall, 1,200 out of 1,211 customers had no power; on Friday morning, the Eversource map showed that 1,202 customers had no power.
In Sharon on Thursday afternoon, Eversource said 1,789 out of 2,169 customers didn’t have power. On Friday morning, there were 1,793 customers without power.
Salisbury was largely spared the worst of the storm and on Thursday afternoon 1,217 customers out of 3,009 didn’t have power. But that number began to increase and early Friday morning, Eversource reported that 1,247 customers were without power. By 11:45 a.m., however, the number had decreased to 1,106.
Events postponed, canceled
Kent still was largely without power on Friday by mid-day. This weekend, the Chamber of Commerce had planned a Shop Safe Summer Sale, a COVID-19 iteration of the annual summer Sidewalk Sale. Some stores will be open for the sale, but most will only accept cash. The sale is scheduled to continue until Aug. 23 (www.kentct.com/kent-sidewalk-festival).
Meanwhile, Salisbury announced a summer sidewalk sale to be held on Saturday, Aug. 15, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (www.salisburysidewalksale.com).
Libraries in many towns were also closed on Friday, and an Aug. 8 event at the Cornwall Library was postponed until Aug. 15.
Meetings of boards and committees in most towns were canceled. Road repairs continued in many towns including Lakeville and Cornwall, however, which contributed to the challenges of getting from Point A to Point B.
Ice, water, food
Essential services began to return by Friday morning. The Salisbury Sharon transfer station was open again, a relief for area residents who had piles of rotting perishable foods and no refrigeration.
There was a shortage of ice and water in the area on Thursday, with most grocery stores and convenience stores sold out before noon. Both were back on many shelves by Friday.
Grocery stores that had been running on generators with limited or no access to perishable foods were for the most part back open by Friday. LaBonne’s market in Salisbury had not lost power and had remained fully stocked. Stop & Shop in North Canaan and Sharon Farm Market were partially open on Thursday, selling only dry goods; Stop & Shop got full power back on Thursday in the middle of the afternoon.
Gas was also becoming more widely available as filling stations that had lost power were able to open again.
The filling stations that had not lost power had shut down their pumps by Thursday afternoon or Friday morning because they had run out of gas; customers were not only filling up their vehicles, they were also seeking fuel for generators and for barbecue grills.
Communication remained sketchy on Friday. Even with cell phones, not everyone was able to get the internet. There were also concerns that cell tower antennae that had been running on batteries would begin to run out of charge.
Town halls remained closed in most towns; many towns don’t have office hours on Fridays anyway in the Northwest Corner.
The Republican and Democrat primary elections were still expected to take place on Tuesday, Aug. 11. Secretary of the State Denise Merrill said on Thursday that Eversource has been notified of the locations of polling places that do not have power; the power company has been asked to make those sites a priority for the restoration of power. Registrars in area towns have also said they are looking at emergency polling locations such as schools.
Outage numbers
As of Friday at mid day, the outage list from Eversource shows these customers without power in area towns.
• Canaan (Falls Village), 45.39% customers affected (595 out of 1,311)
• Cornwall, 99.26% customers affected (1,202 out of 1,211)
• Kent, 87.08% customers affected (1,880 out of 2,159)
• North Canaan, 34.33% customers affected (505 out of 1,471)
• Salisbury, 36.76% customers affected (1,106 out of 3,009)
• Sharon, 82.62% customers affected (1,792 out of 2,169)
The list of towns and impacts can be found at https://outagemap.eversource.com. If you are able to access the internet from a computer, you can see the town-by-town listing by clicking Connecticut under Customer Outages in the menu to the left of the map. If you are on a mobile device, touch Menu, then Customer Outages, and finally Connecticut.
Gov. Lamont and Attorney General William Tong have demanded that the Public Utility Regulatory Authority (PURA) investigate Eversource’s response to the power outages caused by the storm, and they recommend that fines be levied against the company.
In a news release on Aug. 6, Tong said, ““We pay far too much for our energy in Connecticut to be left in the dark. Consumers have poured millions of our ratepayer dollars into resiliency investments to harden our system and prepare for this precise type of storm.
“Eversource and United Illuminating appear to have been unacceptably unprepared for Isaias and must be held accountable. The Office of the Attorney General will be fully engaged in this investigation on behalf of ratepayers who are entitled to answers and any appropriate relief.
“PURA is right to open this investigation, and must be prepared to issue real fines and penalties to hold the utilities accountable for their failure.
“Consumers have a right to be angry here — as am I. At the same time, I am deeply grateful to the line crews and first responders who have worked tirelessly to restore power across our state. Their efforts should be commended and they deserve our full support.”
As for fines, the news release from the attorney general said, “PURA must make clear at the outset of this investigation that it will consider the prudency of the companies’ preparation and response and that it may impose appropriate penalties if warranted. A prudency review essentially examines whether the utility met the industry standard of care and whether there is any causal connection between imprudent conduct and actual loss or damage.
“Such a prudence review could lead to fines and penalties if noticed at the outset of the proceeding. Penalties could include disallowing storm cost recovery and, in a future rate case, reducing the utility’s authorized return on equity.”
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Students dressed in neon lined the soccer field for senior night under the lights on Thursday, Oct. 16. The game against Lakeview was the last in a series of competitions Thursday night in celebration of Homecoming 2025.
As homecoming week reaches its end and fall sports finish out the season, an air of school spirit and student participation seems to be on the rise across Housatonic Valley Regional High School.
But what can be attributed to this sudden peak of student interest? That’s largely due to SGA. Also known as the Student Government Association, SGA has dedicated itself to creating events to bring the entire student body together. This year, they decided to change some traditions.
Spirit week from Oct. 14-17 was unlike those of the previous years. From wearing Housatonic merch to Boomer vs Baby day, this year’s spirit week held a little friendly competition to see which grade could participate the most.
“I think that students are bored of the same old activities and events, so it’s good to switch things up even slightly to incentivize interest within students,” said SGA president and senior Mollie Ford. “Plus the point system is super beneficial because it gives students a reason to participate.”
The school spirit sentiment can be seen outside of just the school. Senior Simon Markow is known for his photography throughout the community, and has dedicated time to help Housy sports teams’ social media posts.
“Since I’ve started photography, I think school attendance [at sports games] has gone up,” Markow said. “I feel this year, students will be more aware of games and are more likely to be at the games.”
Whether it’s a pink-out volleyball game or an under the lights soccer match, it’s likely you’ll see some familiar faces.
Social media has played a large role in this over the years. Almost every student organization at Housatonic has an Instagram account, and it’s helped reach students more efficiently than a poster or email would.
“The increase of social media use, with the help from me but as well as the teams themselves has definitely increased student interest,” Markow said. “With Housy teams posting more about their upcoming games, and my help showing the cool goals, spikes, or touchdowns, it’s enlightened students to watch the games themselves.”
In a small school, promoting pride has proven to be a challenge. But this year’s senior class has made some adjustments in the hopes to change that.
“The SGA community has spent the last few years really focusing on student participation, because we think it’s the students who contribute to a better climate,” Ford said. While Housatonic’s student body may be small in size, it seems they certainly aren’t small in spirit.
The weekend of Homecoming at HVRHS was packed with events including rival games under the lights, senior night, and a new take on Homecoming that moves it outside — and it wouldn’t have been possible without the students of Housatonic.
Orchestrating was no easy feat, especially considering much of the work was left up to the students.
Historically, HVRHS has hosted night games for boys and girls soccer and the GNH football team, but when members of the soccer team asked the athletic director, Anne MacNeil, she left it up to the students to acquire the lights necessary to host a night game.
“I said, ‘Hey, if you can find the lights, we can make it happen,’” MacNeil said. “I usually take control of it, but I really wanted to have the teams have the initiative and take responsibility for it. I think by having them do that, they have a lot more invested in it.”
Finding lights for the game was a challenge in and of itself, and it fell on the students, parents, and alumni to come together if there was to be a night game at all.
Luckily for the players, Patricia and Dino Labbadia, parents of senior Anthony Labaddia, were able to amass the support of the community and get all the necessary equipment donated for the night game.
“We’re fortunate with our communities. Our parents know people in communities and they were able to ask… [and] find the resources,” MacNeil said. “We’ve got a great senior group and senior parent group who have really taken charge … and really made the whole season possible.”
In the end, the night came together spectacularly, and the senior ceremonies, rivalry games, and nighttime fixtures made for a memorable night on the day before Homecoming.
The action began at 4 p.m. Thursday, when the JV Girls Volleyball team played rivals Lakeview High School at home.
At 4:30, the middle school boys soccer team as well as the cross country team faced Northwestern at Housatonic’s lower field and cross country course respectively. Also at 4:30, the JV boys soccer team took on rival Lakeview at Housatonic’s upper field.
At 5:15, the girls varsity volleyball team honored their seniors at Housatonic’s Senior Night ceremony, including captains Katie Crane and Victoria Brooks, before an intense match against Lakeview.
At 6:15, the boys varsity soccer team honored their seniors, including captains Everet Belancik and Abram Kirshner, before kicking off under the lights at Housatonic’s upper field against the Bobcats.
Friday night changes
Typically, Homecoming is hosted in the cafeteria with a DJ and the entire room open as a dance floor. Dancing is the main event, with a small photo op stationed next to one of the exits.
The typical formal dance filled with LED lights and glitter looked a bit different this year. For the HVRHS 2025 Homecoming, the activities all took place outside. There was a large bonfire for students to hang around, a tented area perfect for dancing, and lawn games to play.
The inspiration for this change comes from the Homecoming hosted during the COVID-19 social distancing restrictions put into place at the time. Senior class President Madison Graney said “Other years passed, graduating classes really enjoyed it and we wanted to give it a try.”
Although the theme of Homecoming remains the same, new tasks came in preparation for the event. Including the Bonfire “adds a whole new component,” Graney said. “[We] have to contact the fire department to ensure that the bonfire is being contained.” Hosting the dance outside also demanded “more preparation the day before … set up the tents and make sure it’s a safe and fun space for everyone to enjoy.”
Opinions about Homecoming’s new look vary amongst the student body, with some excited for change and others comfortable with the familiarity of an inside dance. Alexa Meach, an HVRHS senior, expressed that “Everyone that I’ve talked to’s plan is to get dressed up, take photos, and then change into more comfortable clothes because it’s going to be freezing. I feel like we could have had a different event for the bonfire. I think they could have been two separate events.”
Graney said the change is “A really great way to change up the tradition ... [and] another good way to get to know your peers and your teachers and interact with the student body all at once.”
As the chilly breeze settles in, Halloween approaches and the community yearns for spooky festivities — HVRHS has answered that calling. An event held annually for the past eight years, the HVRHS haunted house has returned.
The event is organized by the current senior and junior year classes — 2026 and 2027 respectively — and held to raise money that goes toward the junior and senior class’s activities such as senior week, prom, the senior class trip, and more.
The haunted house is a significant event for HVRHS students, with the Class of 2026’s Vice President Richie Crane saying it is “actually one of our bigger fundraising events.” The profits raised by the classes are split based on how much either class participates, as Crane explained: “We split evenly between the juniors and the seniors, so if the juniors help as much as the seniors then we split the profit with them.” The profits shared between the classes is typically “a couple thousand dollars,” said Anne MacNeil, HVRHS’s sports director and one of the chaperones at the first haunted house.
In regards to planning such a large event, there are “several meetings that first start off with getting a theme … then finding a leader for each section … and then recruiting the people to participate.” MacNeil said. Costs going into planning the event are minimal, as they try to reuse as much materials as possible. If there are materials that need to be purchased, the cost is covered from the profits made at the end of the event, Crane said.
Working at the HVRHS haunted house provides students with an invaluable experience where they learn leadership skills, organizational skills, and teamwork. During the planning process, some students volunteer for leadership roles, where they are in charge of a designated section of the school and the people within that section. As a section leader, the student is in charge of setting up props, managing their area, and ensuring the people in their section are on task. Leaders dedicate “almost 12 hours of [their] day to a section of Housy” said Crane, giving the students a great opportunity to practice leadership skills.
The HVRHS haunted house is a holiday tradition that brings fun, community, and opportunities to the high school. MacNeil finds it to be “a lot of fun for the students to put on and a great thing for the community to enjoy.” Come support the Class of 2026 and 2027 and see the HVRHS haunted house for yourself on Nov. 1, 2025.