Norwalk Area Lit Back up; Ridgefield, Redding Struggle [UPDATE]

Update 10:27 a.m., Sunday:

A total of 42 Connecticut Light & Power customers, or 0.14 percent of the total, were without power as of 10:09 a.m. Sunday, according to the utility website.

Ridgefield, with 10,644 customers still without power, or 24 percent of customers, is the Fairfield County town still hardest hit by the ongoing outage. In Redding, 3,915, or 16 percent of customers, are still without power.

The situation is much better in the towns surrounding Norwalk: Westport has no customers without power, Weston has 19 (0.5 percent); in Wilton, 86 customers (1 percent); New Canaan, 203 customers (2 percent); Darien, 4 customers; Stamford, 2 customers.

Update Saturday 12:53 p.m., Saturday:

According to the latest CL&P estimates, 143 of its customers in Norwalk are still without power. That represents less than one percent of their customers in town without power.

Update 9:08 a.m., Friday:

There are 202 Connecticut Light & Power customers still without electricity service in Norwalk as of 8:53 a.m. Friday, according to the utility website.

That represents 0.67 percent of the company's customers in Norwalk, according to CL&P.

Here are the percentages of customers still without power in surrounding communities, according to the utility: Westport, 1 percent; Weston, 20 percent; Wilton, 19 percent; New Canaan, 4 percent; Ridgefield, 40 percent; Stamford, Greenwich, both less than 1 percent.

Update 9:59 p.m., Thursday:

A day early, Connecticut Light & Power has reached its goal of having 99 percent of customers with service. According to the utility's website, only 331 customers are now without power.

A news release sent out by the utility at 9:49 p.m. said that statewide, power has been restored to "over 572,000 customers since last weekend's snowstorm. As of 9:30 p.m.; about 361,000 CL&P customers remain without power."

The CL&P news release also stated:

"Today, there are nearly 1,500 line and tree crews working and more crews continue arriving to assist the effort.  Crews will continue working with Connecticut National Guard units to open roads in the Northwest and Central parts of the state.  

"The company has responded to additional requests for water with deliveries today to Hartford, Southington, Bethel, Enfield, Plainville and Weston.

"CL&P is also asking customers to be wary of people who may telephone or come to their home and claim they are "from the electric company” or “CL&P.”  CL&P has received reports of customers who were contacted and told that service to their home would be repaired for $200 cash.

"The individual was not, in fact, working for CL&P.  All CL&P employees carry company-issued photo identification and any contractor electricians working with CL&P carry documentation explaining the nature of their work at a specific address."

Update 2:41 p.m.:

Mayor Richard A. Moccia sent out the following message via the city's telephone and email announcement system:

"This is an update from Mayor Richard Moccia. Today less than 600 Norwalk homes remain without electricity. Ct Light and Power advises that all Norwalk homes be restored by Saturday. We will continue to work with the utility and State agencies to improve future recovery efforts and understand the hardship and inconvenience caused by this recent outage.

"Thank you to our families who in the interest of safety did not celebrate Halloween on Monday night. While it was not an easy decision to make, the outages and live wires in trees was a public safety concern. For all residents please remember trick or treaters will be out on Saturday night.

"Thank you for your patience and cooperation as the city continues to deal with this challenging storm."

Update 8:57 a.m.:

Connecticut Light & Power released the following statement this morning:

"Utility crews have restored 121,000 customers in the last 24 hours, reducing the number of Connecticut Light & Power (CL&P) customers without power following last weekend's snowstorm to about 433,000 as of 7 a.m. this morning.

"Today, there will be nearly 1,500 line and tree crews working to get power back to customers. More crews continue arriving to assist the effort."

The company's statement quoted Jeff Butler, CL&P's president and chief operating officer, saying: "We understand the severity of this situation and still expect to have 99 percent of our customers back on line by Sunday night. With additional crews coming in today, we expect to continue to make steady progress."

Update 8:22 a.m., Thursday:

A total of 661 Connecticut Light & Power customers in Norwalk remain without power as of 8:14 a.m., according to the utility's website. That represents 2 percent of CL&P customers in the city.

Update 6:43 p.m., Wednesday:

All but 745 Norwalk customers of CL&P now have electric service, according to the utility's website.

Update 2:05 p.m.:

Latest from CL&P: 1,071 customers still out of power in Norwalk. Statewide, 44 percent of CL&P customers still have no electricity.

Are you a trained American Red Cross volunteer? They say they could sure use you now:

"The American Red Cross requests that any of its trained and registered volunteers contact their local office to see where they can assist in the current winter storm relief operations. If volunteers do not have telecommunications, but can travel, they should go to the Red Cross offices in Farmington, Bethel or Waterford between 8:00AM and 10:00AMdaily, where they will be able to meet with staff and receive information and assignments. Again, this announcement is ONLY for currently trained and registered Red Cross volunteers."

Update 12:14 p.m.:

State Sen. Bob Duff pointed out in a tweet that CL&P's latest estimate that Norwalk's power should be (99 percent) back by 6 p.m. Friday is two days after its original estimate for restoration.

Responding to Norwalk Patch's tweet: "The juice should be back on in 99 percent of #Norwalk by 6 p.m. Friday, CL&P says this morning," Duff tweeted back: "@norwalkpatch that's two days past the original estimate."

Mayor Richard A. Moccia says he doesn't know the reason for the delay in restoration. "It's what we've got from CL&P," he said.

Norwalk DPW crews are no longer partnering with CL&P crews in removing trees and tree branches from the streets, because that work appears to have been done—unless any new wires have come down, Moccia said.

Homes currently without power are most concentrated in West Norwalk and the Cranbury section of the city in northeast Norwalk, Moccia said.

Sunday at midnight is CL&P's estimate for 99 percent power restoring across the state.

Update 12:04 p.m.:

Ryan Hanrahan, a meteorologist at NBC-TV Hartford, says CL&P should have had plenty of warning about the severity of the recent storm.

He and others were issuing strong warnings about its unusual severity, Hanrahan says in his blog, "Way Too Much Weather."

Update 11:35 a.m.:

Connecticut Light & Power issued the following statement as part of a news release early this morning. In addition to looking up restoration estimates online, the statement said:

"Customers can also access restoration estimates by calling CL&P Customer Service at 800-286-2000.  

"'Our goal remains to restore the vast majority of customers by Sunday, November 6,' said Jeff Butler, CL&P’s president and chief operating officer. 'We continue to ask for and receive help from out-of-state crews and contractors as our crew counts grow daily.  We understand how frustrating it is to be without power and are working as quickly and safely as possible.'

"Today, there are over 1,040 line and tree crews at work across the state. In addition, we have over 550 support crews helping to speed the restoration."

The following restoration times (from CL&P's most recent online update) are for 11:59 p.m., unless otherwise indicated:

City/

Town

% Still

Out

Restore

Day

Darien

0.97

Thursday

Greenwich

3

11 pm, Thursday

New Canaan

10

6 pm, Friday

Norwalk

3

6 pm, Friday

Redding

78

Ridgefield

59

Saturday

Stamford

1

Thursday

Weston

61

Friday

Westport

10

6pm, Friday

Wilton

47

Friday

Update 11:17 a.m.:

Connecticut Light & Power now says 1,069 customers, or 3 percent of the total, are now without power in Norwalk. That's up from 835 customers at 6:11 a.m.

Update 11:12 a.m.:

Norwalk should be 99 percent restored by 6 p.m. Friday, Connecticut Light & Power now says.

The utility posted new restoration estimates Wednesday morning for all towns in its service area.

Update 6:51 a.m.:

With power restored to all but 835 Norwalk customers, or 2 percent of the Connecticut Light & Power customers in the city, and 99 percent restoration expected by the end of day Friday, Norwalk is doing better than the rest of CL&P's territory in Connecticut.

Across the state, 265,000 customers have been restored so far, but that leaves 546,110, or 44 percent, still without power as of 6:11 a.m. Wednesday.

CL&P now has estimates for when 99 percent of power will be restored to residents in 50 individual towns and cities across the state.

"We expect to have estimates for all towns we serve by tomorrow morning," said Jeff Butler, CL&P’s president and chief operating officer, in a news release Wednesday morning.

The utility's news release also said:

"Today, there are over 770 line and tree crews at work across the state. Staging areas have been set up at Lake Compounce in Bristol, the former Timex building in Middlebury and Fairfield Hills in Newtown so we can efficiently deploy large numbers of crews and materials to the communities where they are needed. Additional staging areas will be set up as crews continue to arrive from out of state."

These are the utility's current estimates for 99 percent power restoration in other nearby cities and towns, all as of 11:59 p.m. (the percentage still out of power is as of 6:11 a.m. Wednesday; estimations of power restoration are as of Tuesday evening):

City/

Town

% Still

Out

Restore

Day

Darien

1

Thursday

Greenwich

4

Thursday

New Canaan

10

Saturday

Norwalk

2

Friday

Redding

77

N/A

Ridgefield

59

N/A

Stamford

1

Thursday

Weston

61

N/A

Westport

10

Saturday

Wilton

48

N/A

Update 6:20 a.m.:

Power should be back in Norwalk for 99 percent of Connecticut Light & Power customers by 11:59 p.m. Friday, CL&P says on its website.

Update 5:59 a.m., Wednesday:

A total of 835, or 2 percent, of Connecticut Light & Power's customers in Norwalk now remain without power, according to the utility.

Statewide, 548,682 CL&P customers remain without power, or 44 percent, as of 5:41 a.m., according to the utility's website.

Update 10:20 p.m., Tuesday:

The number of CL&P Norwalk customers without power—1,023— has shrunk by 370 since 8 p.m.

Update 10:16 p.m., Tuesday:

CL&P says 900 line-repair crews from outside Connecticut are working across the state to restore power.

"Crews have come from as far away as Alabama, California and British Columbia to aid in the restoration efforts and additional crews continue to arrive," CL&P said in a news release emailed at 9:56 p.m.

As of 9:42 p.m., according to the CL&P website, 47 percent of the utility's 592,817 Connecticut customers were still without power.

Update 8:18 p.m., Tuesday:

At 7:06 a.m., there were 1,377 customers in Norwalk without power, CL&P said. Thirteen hours later: 1,395 (that's 18 more).

Update 7:06 a.m., Tuesday:

Norwalk Public Schools reopen Tuesday morning on a "regular school day schedule," the school district's website has announced.

According to CL&P, 1,377 Norwalk customers remain without power as of 5:47 a.m., or 4 percent of the 29,702 CL&P customers in the city.

On Monday, Norwalk Emergency Management Director Denis McCarthy, also the city's fire chief, said Wolfpit Elementary School was the last public school in the city still waiting to get power restored as of that morning.

Update 8:42 p.m., Monday:

Connecticut Light & Power has announced that power to almost 204,000 CL&P customers has been restored after a snowstorm that at one point had knocked out electricity service to as many as 831,000 of the state's homes and businesses.

"We expect the pace of restoration to quicken as damage assessments are completed, blocked roads are cleared and additional crews arrive to help with the effort," said Jeff Butler, CL&P’s president and chief operating officer, in a news release.

"Our projection for complete restoration remains the same: we expect it to take a week or more in some areas."

The utility announced Monday that more detailed restoration estimates would be released "as soon as we have sufficient information to offer specific projections—most likely tomorrow [Tuesday] morning for many of the towns in the southwest and eastern sections of the state."

Parts of Connecticut generally north and west of Interstate 84 "still have roads blocked and areas inaccessible to crews," according to the utility. Specific restoration estimates for those parts of the state will take longer.

A "significant difference" between this snow storm and Tropical Storm Irene, according to the utility, is that CL&P transmission lines from power plants to the local distribution grid were damaged in this storm.

"Workers are dedicated to address these critical transmission outages and have already restored thirteen of the damaged lines," according to the news release. But more work may need to be done even after transmission lines are fixed, the utility said.

Update 6:15 p.m.:

This was Mayor Richard A. Moccia's message on the storm recovery and postponing Halloween, sent to city residents by email or telephone at 3:10 p.m. Monday:

"This is Mayor Richard Moccia on the Notify Norwalk System. As of 2 p.m. today 2,300 households remain without power. Those residents are invited to use local libraries for warming and phone charging.

"Connecticut Light and Power anticipates 99 percent of residents will have power restored by the weekend.

"The city is joining our neighboring communities in recommending that trick or treating be postponed to this Saturday, November 5th, rather than tonight because of significant safety risks along our roads and sidewalks.

"Many homes remain without power. Even if your neighborhood appears to have minimal damage, it still might not be safe.

"The possibility of falling tree limbs, slippery surface conditions, and electrical hazards remain very real throughout the city.

"Parents are urged in the strongest possible terms not to let their children trick or treat tonight. Keep them inside and plan on a safer night this Saturday, November 5th.

"All Norwalk Schools are scheduled to be open on Tuesday.

"Thank you for your patience and cooperation."

Update 5:52 p.m.:

After telling Norwalk Patch shortly before 1:30 p.m. that he was only urging parents to be cautious, Mayor Richard A. Moccia started having second thoughts, and by about 2 p.m. he'd decided to join others in the Great Halloween Postponement of 2011.

A "Reverse-911" robocall went out to city residents at about 3 p.m., Moccia said.

"I started talking with the other towns," Moccia said, explaining his change of mind. "It's going to get colder tonight, there's still some debris around, and we still have some wires down."

Westport town government to postpone Halloween trick-or-treating until Saturday. New Canaan (see the 11:15 a.m. update). So did Wilton, Ridgefield and some other area towns.

Moccia said the city's received a number of calls from residents about the decision, and he's talked to some of the callers. A few

"I said, 'Hey, look, if you want to go out, it's your choice. We're just recommending this," Moccia said. He said government officials in other towns have told him they're telling callers: "If you want to go out and have your kids risk power lines, blocked sidewalks and ice, it's up to you."

Moccia says he figures some will be calling him "the Grinch that stole Halloween," but "I'm going to err on the side of safety."

Most of the calls to City Hall about the matter have been supportive, he said.

Update 5:18 p.m.:

Mayor Richard A. Moccia is urging parents to keep their children at home tonight and instead use Saturday, Nov. 5, for trick-or-treating.

The Norwalk city government website has published this announcement:

"The City of Norwalk is joining our neighboring communities in recommending that Trick or Treating be postponed to this Saturday, November rather than tonight because of possible safety issues.

"Parents are urged in the strongest possible terms not to let their children Trick or Treat tonight. Keep them inside and plan on a safer night this Saturday, November 5."

Update 2:09 p.m.:

Not one Norwalk resident wound up using Brien McMahon High School as an overnight shelter Sunday night to Monday, said Denis McCarthy, the city fire chief and emergency management director.

Some did come into the school on Sunday for help with things like getting cell phones charged, he said. The City Hall Community Room as well as libraries around the city will be open during normal hours for people who want to be in places with electricity, he said.

As of this morning, Wolfpit Elementary School was the only one still without electricity, and that was expected to be connected back to the school by today, McCarthy said.

Update 1:36 p.m.:

Connecticut Light & Power says 2,259 customers in Norwalk are still without power as of 1:30 p.m., or about 7 percent of the total number of Norwalk CL&P customers.

According to the utility's outage map, Norwalk looks like it got off pretty easy from the freak storm.

The further north one looks in Connecticut, the worse the situation, with 81 percent of customers or more in most towns out of power from Ridgefield (82 percent without power), Redding (94 percent) and Monroe (currently 100 percent) north to the Massachusetts border.

Danbury, with 52 percent out, is in better shape than the vast majority of municipalities to the north.

Update 1:28 p.m., Monday:

Mayor Richard A. Moccia isn't "canceling" Halloween trick-or-treating tonight—he doesn't think he has the power—but he's calling on parents to be a lot more cautious.

Moccia also says he's hopeful that the remaining 2,000 or so CL&P customers without power will have it by Tuesday evening.

"I'm urging everybody to use caution and possibly stay in their own neighborhood," Moccia said. "Wear bright costumes, have flashlights, just be careful and maybe not be out as long."

Some sidewalks are still blocked by downed trees and branches, making the roads more dangerous than normal, he said.

Over the weekend, with CL&P crews working with the city Department of Public Works, clearing roadways of electric utility wires was the main priority, Moccia said. Streets were cleared of all but telephone and cable television wires by yesterday, he said. Although some may have come down overnight, he thinks they would be few and far between.

Denis McCarthy, Norwalk's emergency management director and fire chief, said remaining telephone and cable television wires don't carry nearly the charge that a power company wire has. But the less-powerful wires sometimes come into contact with the electricity wires and can then carry a higher charge, making them much more dangerous, he said.

"We didn't have the 19,000 customers out the way we did with Irene, but I think this storm surprised people," Moccia said. "I think down the road, CL&P's got to look at having ready crews in towns to work with local DPWs."

The Norwalk Health Department has been doing snap inspections of supermarkets and similar establishments in the city, Moccia said. ShopRite on Connecticut Avenue had to throw out some food today. The two Stop & Shop supermarkets and Stew Leondard's were also inspected.

Update 7 p.m., Tuesday:

A bulletin posted to the Norwalk Public Schools website says that schools will be closed Monday because of outages in the city.

The full announcement says: "Due to continued power outages in Norwalk, the Norwalk Public Schools will be closed on Monday, October 31, 2011. 12 month staff in the central office and 12 month school-based staff will have a two hour delay. All afterschool activities are cancelled except for scheduled athletic games. There will not be any athletic practices. Please check with the athletic directors for additional information."

Update 3:30 p.m.

Planet Fitness is offering use of its shower and locker room facilities to residents who need them in the wake of the historic snowstorm. A complete list of the company's gyms in Connecticut can be found here.

Locations in Fairfield County include:

• Shelton (two locations, and )
• Stamford ( and )

Update 2 p.m.

Norwalk Mayor Richard Moccia said in a citywide alert moments ago that power restoration in Norwalk is not expected until at least Wednesday. An emergency center for warming, food and information will be open from 3 to 8 p.m. today at .

"Residents who want to stay overnight should arrive by 7 p.m.," he said. "Monday the Community Room and libraries will be open as warming centers."

Update 1 p.m.

Gov. Dannel Malloy said through his Twitter feed that he’s asked President Obama to declare a federal emergency in Connecticut.

Currently, more than 820,000 utility customers in the state are without power, including more than 800,000 from Connecticut Light & Power. CL&P has no new updates since Tweeting four hours ago that outages could last one week.

The CEO of United Illuminating—whose Fairfield County towns include Easton, Fairfield, Shelton and Trumbull—said customers should have power restored Monday.

Stay on your local Patch for school closing and delay information as it becomes available, and be sure to create a user account to post comments on this article or upload your photos and videos by clicking the “Submit Your Photos” button.

Here’s a snapshot of outages in our towns at 1 p.m.:

Town

% Customers

Saturday

Sunday

3 p.m.

4 p.m.

5 p.m.

6 p.m.

7 p.m.

12 a.m.

9 a.m.

1 p.m.

Darien

10

26

41

47

37

27

26

26

Easton

0

16

20

22

38

29

42

46

Fairfield

2

3

4

4

4

5

14

14

Greenwich

5

12

13

14

15

18

18

17

New Canaan

8

22

24

38

39

42

42

43

Norwalk

15

17

17

18

18

20

22

19

Redding

1

9

13

96

80

100

100

100

Ridgefield

4

8

9

15

18

67

100

100

Shelton

12

19

25

28

23

18

11

8

Stamford

3

4

8

8

15

8

17

8

Trumbull

0

1

5

5

6

18

25

11

Weston

10

58

68

75

75

61

80

80

Westport

14

28

31

32

34

19

21

22

Wilton

10

37

50

56

56

55

68

66

Update 10:30 a.m. Sunday

In what Gov. Dannel Malloy has called the largest number of outages in Connecticut history at a single time—some 790,000 statewide—nearly one-quarter of Norwalk's CL&P customers are out of power Sunday morning.

The Merritt and Wilbur Cross Parways are to reopen at 11 a.m. today, Malloy said through his Twitter feed.

See the full outage table below.

Said CL&P in its own Twitter feed: "Unprecedented damage from this storm. Please prepare for worst case scenario - a week or more without power. Call 211 for shelter info."

Metro-North Railroad says service has been restored on the New Haven line, though rail commuters in towns such as Redding need to make alternative plans:

• Hudson Line, New Haven Line & New Canaan Branch: Regular train service has been restored.
• Harlem Line: Upper Harlem Line service remains suspended from North White Plains to Wassaic due to downed trees. Regular train service has been restored from North White Plains to Grand Central.
• Danbury & Waterbury Branches: Bus service is in effect on both branches. Train service remains suspended due to downed trees at several locations and local power outages. On the Danbury Branch buses will bypass Redding Station. Redding customers should use Branchville or Bethel Stations

Stay on Patch for updates.

Update 12 a.m. Sunday

Powerless homes in Norwalk climbed to 20 percent of CL&P customers, as , which is forecasted to continue through Sunday morning.

According to a 9:46 p.m. Saturday update from the National Weather Service, the historic October snowstorm is expected to wind down by about 6 a.m. Sunday, leaving accumulations of six inches to a foot.

“Widespread tree damage and power outages will continue,” according to the NWS. “Travel will continue to be hazardous.”

As Saturday becomes Sunday, MTA is reporting:

New Haven Line: Trains are operating with delays of  60 to 90 minutes due to weather-related signal problems.

New Canaan & Danbury Branches: Service remains suspended due to downed trees at several locations and slippery rail conditions.

Below, you’ll find an outage map that tracks outages, as a percentage of the utility (Connecticut Light & Power or United Illuminating) in the given town.

In Norwalk, Mayor Richard Moccia warned residents that much of the city’s power likely wouldn’t return this weekend (see below).

Town

% Customers

3 p.m.

4 p.m.

5 p.m.

6 p.m.

7 p.m.

12 a.m.

Darien

10

26

41

47

37

27

Easton

0

16

20

22

38

29

Fairfield

2

3

4

4

4

5

Greenwich

5

12

13

14

15

18

New Canaan

8

22

24

38

39

42

Norwalk

15

17

17

18

18

20

Redding

1

9

13

96

80

100

Ridgefield

4

8

9

15

18

67

Shelton

12

19

25

28

23

18

Stamford

3

4

8

8

15

8

Trumbull

0

1

5

5

6

18

Weston

10

58

68

75

75

61

Westport

14

28

31

32

34

19

Wilton

10

37

50

56

56

55

Patch will have more details as they emerge Sunday.

Update 7 p.m.

Norwalk Mayor Richard Moccia said moments ago in a CodeRed call that the city is receiving more and more reports of fallen trees and limbs and "more outages are expected overnight and restoration is not expected until Sunday are later."

Moccia said CL&P has 100 percent of its crews working and urged residents to stay home for their safety and to hasten the clean-up.

Update 5 p.m.

See the user-submitted photos from Norwalk, including part of a chimney that apparently crashed through a ceiling. Also see the updated outage table below. MTA reports delays on the New Haven line with service on the New Canaan and Danbury branches suspended.

Update 4 p.m.

CL&P is now reporting about 17 percent of Norwalk customers without power (see table below).

Original Story

Downed trees and branches are causing road hazards, accidents and sporadic power outages throughout Fairfield County Saturday.

A winter storm warning and coastal flood advisory is in effect through much of the region as a slushy storm that coincides with relatively high winds and tides arrived even more quickly than forecasters had predicted. The National Weather Service now is calling for as much as 8 to 12 inches of snow as temperatures drop into the 30s.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Add your Norwalk snow and storm photos to this article by clicking the "Submit Your Photos" button above.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Drawing from the Connecticut Light & Power and United Illuminating websites, here’s a snapshot of outage reports throughout our towns on Saturday:

Metro-North has . At this time the rail service reporting “Good Service” on the New Haven line and New Canaan  and Danbury branches.

CL&P has issued .

Correction: The CL&P outage map was current as of 12:49 p.m. Monday, not 12:49 a.m.